Background
Grillo was born in Tampa, Florida, on February 16,1909, one of six children of Rogelio and Marta Grillo. His parents returned to Cuba when Machito was an infant and settled in Havana.
Grillo was born in Tampa, Florida, on February 16,1909, one of six children of Rogelio and Marta Grillo. His parents returned to Cuba when Machito was an infant and settled in Havana.
Machito stated that he did not have a lot of formal education, something that he regretted later in life. His father wanted for him to go into the food distribution business but he chose a music career instead.
When he returned to Cuba, his father operated several businesses in the hospitality industry. At different times he had a cigar warehouse, a grocery store, a restaurant, and a food distribution business. As part of the food distribution business, Grillo traveled extensively with his father through the different provinces of Cuba delivering food to small grocery stores that served the laborers working in sugarcane plantations and sugar mills. Many of these workers were musicians with impressive skills and a command of Afro-Cuban musical rhythms. His father often bartered food with them in exchange for their participation at small musical gatherings held in his grocery store. Musical groups made up of "rumberos" and "conjuntos" visited the Grillos and performed for them. Musicians and groups such as Taganito, Malanga, Descoyuntado, and Andrea Baroa participated in these performances, which pro-foundly impressed young Grillo.
As an adolescent during the late 1920s, Grillo was exposed to American jazz music and started a collection of jazz records that included musicians such as Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson. He also started attended music rehearsals of a group known as the Jóvenes de la Rendición. While at these practices, a maraca player named Champitos performed powerful and complex pieces. Grillo decided that he wanted to learn the maracas and through long hours of practice at home, he learned to play them on his own. After a fellow musician heard him play, Machito was invited to play and sing with some local music groups. Eventually he started to perform professionally with the Sexteto Nacional and the Orquesta de Maria Teresa, two important Cuban groups of the time.
In 1937 Grillo was persuaded by Mario Bauza, his brother-in-law, to go to New York and work as a musician. Bauzá, who was married to Grillo s younger sister Graciela, had been a prominent classical musician in Cuba and had already moved to New York, where he was working as a music director for both the Chick Webb and Cab Calloway bands. In New York Grillo found himself surrounded by the huge music boom of America's big band movement and the great interest in jazz created by the Harlem Renaissance. Grillo visited the ballroom of the Hotel Savoy and The Palladium, two of the important musical nightclubs of the time. His first music job in New York was with the Happy Boys Orchestra. This engagement led to his playing and recording with the orchestras of Alberto Soldarrás, Xavier Cugat, Noro Morales, Estrellas Habaneras, and the prominent Orquesta Siboney. He also came in contact for the first time with the work of legendary jazz performers Louis Armstrong and Count Basie, who were regular performers at the most popular nightclubs in Harlem.
Grillo formed his own band, Machito and the Afro-Cubans, in 1940. According to music historian John Storm Roberts, the formation of the Afro-Cubans constituted "the single most important event of the decade for Latin music development as an autonomous U.S. sub style" (Roberts 1999,101). Bauza joined the band as its musical director and they developed musical arrangements blending their Afro-Cuban music with jazz. Their style was characterized by the use of strong multi-tempo percussion arrangements with jazz wind instruments. This fusion became known as bebop and replaced the sound of swing and the big bands. Grillo's band signed a four-year contract with La Conga Club in New York, but had to abandon the band for a brief period of time when he was drafted into the army. His sister Graciela took his place as singer and maraca player. Machito also signed a contract with Decca Records and released the songs "Sopa de Pichón," and "Tanga." Tine song "Tanga," written by Bauzá and sung by Machito, became very popular. It was Machito's theme song for the remainder of his musical life. The band was very successful and was featured on many of the popular radio shows of the time.
Bauzá, who had an excellent knowledge of the African American jazz musical establishment and who knew the American musical markets, paired the band with a number of jazz arrangers and performers such as Cuban "Chico" O' Farrill, and Dizzy Gillespie. These collaborations started an exchange of musical forms that evolved into a new style of music. They also wanted to capture the interest of a new wave of Puerto Rican immigrants who were arriving in New York and longed to listen and dance to Latin music. During the early years of the band, they collaborated and recorded with Charlie Parker, Herbie Mann, Joe Phillips, Buddy Rich, Johnnie Griffin, and Stan Kenton.
In 1948 producer Norman Grantz brought together Charlie Parker, Joe "Flip" Phillips, and Machito for a recording. The final product was a unique distinct music style known as Latin jazz. These successful collaborations continued throughout the 1950s with other African American musicians such as Buddy Rich, Howard McGhee, Brew Moore, Johnny Griffin, and Cannonball Aderley. These musicians influenced Machito, who in turn was a strong influence on the American jazz establishment as it moved toward the Latin style.
During the 1950s and early 1960s, American music went through the mambo craze. Triggered by the hits and popularity of Damaso Pérez Prado and Cachao, Grillo and his band produced several mambo hits. Performing at the Palladium, the home of mambo music in New York, he lent a hand to younger musicians such as Tito Puente and helped them establish themselves in New York.
As the mambo mania came to an end in the early 1960s, Grillo was once again left to perform Latin jazz. During the 1970s he toured with his band throughout the world. He collaborated with new musicians, establishing the genre of salsa. In 1982, as Latin jazz started to resurface, he was awarded a Grammy for the record Machito and His Salsa Band. During his career, Grillo worked and performed with almost every famous artist working in jazz, mambo, and salsa. He recorded more than 75 albums in a span of 50 years.
Grillo died in 1984 from a stroke while on tour in London. His son Mario continues to lead his band and his daughter Paula now sings with it. Although he has been gone from the musical scene for more that 15 years.
There is a significant dimension of Grillo's life that has not been stressed enough by either his biographers or music historians. From the time his band reached success, he became a humanitarian with deep concerns for the well being of Latino youth and the under-privileged people of New York. During the 1940s and 1950s he played an important role in preventing gang violence among Latino youth. He also was a strong supporter of the rehabilitation of drug addicts, and for many years helped Project Return by providing free concerts in New York's parks. Toward the end of his life, he worked closely with Project SCOUT.
Physical Characteristics: Machito was somewhat short in stature, at 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) in height.
A lifelong Roman Catholic, he married Puerto Rican Hilda Torres on January 17, 1940, at which time he changed his nickname from "Macho" to "Machito". The cross-cultural marriage served as a sign to New York Latinos that it was possible to attain a sense of pan-Latino brotherhood. Frank and Hilda Grillo produced five children: Martha (1941), Frank Jr (1943), Barbara (1948), Mario (1956) and Paula. The family lived in Spanish Harlem at 112th Street and Second Avenue, where Machito enjoyed cooking for his children, writing the occasional song such as "Sopa de Pichon" while working in the kitchen.