Mariano Mercerón

b. 19 April 1905, Santiago, Cuba, d. 26 December, 1976, Mexico City, Mexico. Mercerón studied music as a young man and in the early 30s led a dance band at hotels and clubs. Playing tenor saxophone and clarinet, his repertoire included local variations on jazz forms that were trickling in from the USA. He became very popular and although he reverted to Cuban music as his base and soon established a considerable presence in Havana. With his band, the Muchachos Pimienta, he recorded from 1941, sometimes in his own name and other times backing established singers. His repertoire ...