Cuban-born drummer, percussionist and composer Roberto Juan Rodríguez learned trumpet and drums from his father, trumpeter and arranger Roberto Luis Rodríguez, and was playing drums professionally in Miami by 13, in his father’s bands and with the great bassist Israel “Cachao” López. He majored in jazz at UM and became part of Gloria Estefan’s recording circle: he played the live drums on “Oye Mi Canto” from Cuts Both Ways (1989) and is credited on Into the Light (1991) and Mi Tierra (1993).
In New York he quickly became a first-call drummer, working with Paul Simon, Rubén Blades, T-Bone Burnett, Joe Jackson, Rufus Wainwright, Celia Cruz, Paquito D’Rivera, Julio Iglesias and Phoebe Snow, and he was the drummer in guitarist Marc Ribot’s Los Cubanos Postizos.
At John Zorn’s invitation he began composing, and his albums for Zorn’s Tzadik label created a Cuban-Jewish sound all his own, blending Latin rhythms with klezmer and Sephardic melodies: El Danzón de Moisés (2002), Baila! Gitano Baila! (2004), Oy Vey!! Olé!! with pianist Irving Fields and Descarga Oriental with Maurice El Médioni (both 2006), The First Basket (2009) and Aguares: Book of Angels Vol. 23 (2014).