April 4, 1928 – January 6, 2016

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Cuban trumpeter, Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros, perhaps the only artist to play both with Arsenio Rodriquez and Benny More passed away this week at the age of 87.

This amateur video captured Armenteros with Wynton Marsalis playing with the Machito Orchestra in New York’s Central Park 2000, under the direction of Mario Grillo.

Armenteros was raised on a farm in Santa Clara, Cuba.

He helped Benny More start and was the musical director of Banda Gigante. He also played in Bebo Valdes’s short-lived batanga orchestra.

After the Cuban Revolution, he moved to New York City where he was a member of Machito and His Afro-Cubans. He was also a member of New York’s Grupo Folklorico Experimental Nuevayorquino.

At various times, he performed with José Fajardo, Tito Puente, César Concepción, Machito, Eddie Palmieri, Marcelino Guerra, Charlie Palmieri, John Santos, Israel “Cachao” López, Noro Morales, Johnny Pacheco,

“Music is so vast that every day you learn something new.” – Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros

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