XAVIER CUGAT
Genres: Latin Jazz, Big Band, Afro-Cuban Jazz, Jazz Related Soundtracks • Spain

Xavier Cugat (January 1, 1900 - October 27, 1990) was a Spanish-Cuban bandleader whom many consider to have had more to do with the infusion of Latin music into United States popular music than any other musician. Perez Prado followed in Cugat's footsteps.  Cugat was born Francisco de Asis Javier Cugat Mingall de Bru y Deulofeo in Girona, Spain. With his family, he immigrated to Cuba when he was five. He trained as a classical violinist and played with the Orchestra of the Teatro Nacional in Havana.  Sometime between 1915 and 1918, Cugat moved to New York, where he played with a band called "The Gigolos" during the tango craze. Later, he went to work for the Los Angeles Times as a cartoonist (Cugat's caricatures were later nationally syndicated).  In the late 1920s, sound began to be used in movies, he put together another tango band that had some success read more...