William Rodriguez Amador

William was a musician. He played with many famous groups of his era including Joe Cuba. William also worked as a studio musician for many bands. He played drums for several of Harry Belafonte recordings such as "Acorn in the Meadow, Delia, Hold 'em Joe, I'm Just A Country Boy, Kukla Mu, and many others. He played percussions on Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers: Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960 and for Neil Sedaka as well.

He died way before his time. Ray Baretto a famous Puerto Rican percussionist was quoted by a Rodriguez family member saying that William was his mentor. Jimmy Sabater Sr. was quoted as being inspired by him.

   Willie Rodriguez -- Bunch Of Bongos ... LP

Grand Award, Early 60s.

A driving session of big band Latin, with some really nice moments, and some particularly strong percussion on the best tracks. According to the notes, Ray Barretto and Johnny Pacheco are on the album. Titles include "Mambo Loco", "Cuban Mambo", "Chiu Chiu", "Timbales Mambo", and "Baia".

William and many other percussionist of the time would hang out at Carroll Music. A combination musical instrument store and performance studio.

In 1955, Kraus, Harry Breuer, Terry Snyder, Willie Rodriguez, and a handful of other percussionists gathered there to record a set of tunes written by Jimmy Carroll for percussion ensembles. The album, Speed the Parting Guest, was a seminal recording. Released by the tiny but highly-regarded Cook Laboratories label, a pioneer in high fidelity recordings, the album became known among hi-fi buffs as an acid test for a system, and eventually, bigger labels took notice and began producing their own percussion-packed records. And the percussionists themselves began to see that their part could be as important as that of any of the high-profile instruments, and within a year or two, many of them had cut their own albums.

"Willie Rodriguez was a fine percussionist who worked with Johnny Lytle, notably on Lytle's best-known tune and LP, "The Village Caller!" playing conga/percussion and on "The Loop" LP. Rodriguez also played with Lylte collaborator Ray Barretto."

His recorded two jazz albums; Bunch of Bongos and Flatjacks.