Ignacio Berroa

"Ignacio plays with intelligence, taste, fire, and soul. His playing combines the finest aspects of Afro-Cuban and American styles of drumming." - -Wynton Marsalis
"If you want to understand the new Latin jazz — which is one of the almost measurably vital things going on now in jazz — you might as well start with the drummers. This makes Ignacio Berroa quite important. Mr. Berroa left Cuba for the United States in 1980, finding work with Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente and many others. His impressive new record, "Codes" (Blue Note), with a distinct arrangement idea on every track, lays out different kinds of rhythmic feel along a vast spectrum. It features the pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and some of the music proceeds in ways you might associate with him: slow and nearly classical, or hard-slapping, metrically tricky funk. But what makes Mr. Berroa stand out among other Cuban drummers is how deeply he has also mastered the looser feel of American jazz drumming. He proves it with his playing on "Realidad y Fantasia," a remarkable type of generous ballad-swing, made with brushes, that may be a dying art." - - Ben Ratliff, THE NEW YORK TIMES April, 2006
A master of both jazz and Afro-Cuban music, Grammy Award winner Ignacio Berroa is one of the most dynamic drummers in contemporary jazz.
Born in Havana in 1953, Ignacio studied at the National School of Arts and subsequently at Havana's National Conservatory. By 1975 he had become Cuba's most sought-after drummer for recording. Arriving in New York, Ignacio immediately found work with Cuban bandleader and Latin Jazz pioneer Mario Bauza. Soon after, Dizzy Gillespie invited Ignacio to join his quartet. Berroa became an integral part of all the bands Gillespie assembled during that decade: The Dizzy Gillespie's 70th Anniversary Big Band; Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band; the Grammy Award- winning United Nations Orchestra.
Berroa has taught percussion at Florida International University and released his video Mastering The Art of Afro-Cuban Drumming under Warner Bros Publications, as well as two books: Groovin' in Clave and A New Way of Grooving distributed by Playintime productions.
His debut CD as a bandleader, "CODES" (Blue Note) was nominated for a Grammy in 2006.
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