Bob Quaranta, pianist, received his B.A. in music theory from the Philadelphia
College of Performing Arts. For over ten years, he was a member of Mongo Santamaria's band
and served as musical director. Additionally, he composed songs for the band, five of which appeared on Mongo's recordings.
Two recordings Bob appeared on with Mongo were nominated for Grammy Awards: "Mongo Magic" and "Espiritu Libre".
Quaranta has also performed and/or recorded with: Dave Valentin, Willie Colon, Ray
Barretto, Tommy Igoe, Angel Canales and Jellybean Benitez.
With John Scofield, he recorded on the Yamaha instructional video The
Drumset, A Musical Approach. Other studio sessions include TV commercials for IBM and soundtrack work for Vestron Video.
Quaranta has also recorded a piano disk for the Yamaha Disklavier. He appears on the Hudson Music Drummers Collective
25th Anniversary Celebration & Bass Day 2002 DVD and CD. He continues to serve as an integral member of the Ed
Palermo Big Band and currently is on the faculty at The Collective in New York City. He is also playing piano with
Andrea Brachfeld and the Phoenix Rising Latin Jazz Ensemble. On Brachfeld's latest recording,
Into the World, A Musical Offering, Jazz Improv NY, reports "Quaranta's wealth of experience in Latin
music grounds the ensemble" in the song Q, (composed by Quaranta ). Additionally, Quaranta's playing has been
characterized as "magnificent" in the book, Latin Jazz: The First of The Fusions, John Storm
Roberts.
MONGO SANTAMARIA
Afro Blue: The Picante Collection (Concord)
Free Spirit/Espiritu Libre
(M.I.L. Multimedia)
Live at
Jazz Alley (Concord)
Mucho
Mongo: Soca Me Nice/Olé Ola (Concord)
Olé Ola (Concord)
Skin on Skin: The Mongo Santamaria Anthology (Rhino)
Soca Me Nice (Concord)
Soy Yo (Concord)
Mongo Magic (Roulette)
Instant Party (Concord)
Mucho Mambo Mongo (Recall)
Slap It (12" Single) (TBS)