 his salsa songs are considered classics. Quitate la Mascara and Vive y Vacila. All of those songs. He went into jazz. He left the music. He said he wanted to leave the Cuchifrito circuit. He went into jazz and he did fairly well. But his memory, his legacy is in Latin music. It truly is. He was born in 1929. He was born in Brooklyn. He was raised in East Harlem in the Bronx. He joined the army at 17. Was influenced by recording of Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo.