Nobody agrees on where or when Frank Grillo, known as Machito, was born. Sources say Havana or Tampa, and 1908, 1912, or 1915. This deep dive argues that the ambiguity fits a man who refused to choose sides. Raised in Havana's Jesus Maria district alongside his foster sister Graciela, he moved to New York in 1937, formed the Afro-Cubans in 1940, and in 1941 hired his brother-in-law Mario Bauza as musical director, launching a 34-year partnership that replaced the swing drum kit with congas, bongos, maracas, and the clave.

The episode explains what Machito actually did while Bauza wrote the arrangements, how a wartime draft and leg injury brought Graciela to New York as co-star, and how the band renamed a tune Cubop City and played Carnegie Hall with Duke Ellington and Bud Powell. It then covers his mentorship of a teenage Willie Bobo, his p ...