Carlos "Patato" Valdes

Carlos Valdés Galán, better known as Patato, was a Cuban conga player. In 1954, he emigrated from La Habana to New York City where he continued his prolific career as a sideman for several jazz and Latin music ensembles, and occasionally as a bandleader. He contributed to the development of the tunable conga drum which revolutionized the use of the instrument in the US. His experimental descarga albums recorded for Latin Percussion are considered the counterpart to the commercial salsa boom of the 1970s. Tito Puente once called him "the greatest conguero alive today". ^{Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Cuban-American conga player and composer (d. 2007)}

4 November 1926

Born on the same birth day (4 November): Jerry Fleck • Kamila Skolimowska • Kyōka Izumi • Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu • Lyndall Gordon • Markie Post • Richard Harrington, Baron Harrington of Watford • Richard Owens (American football) • Roger Wilbraham • Tabu (actress)

Born in the same month (November 1926): Arturo Luz • Betsy Palmer • Chae Myung-shin • Frank Carson • Jeane Kirkpatrick • Jeffrey Hunter • Joan Sutherland • John Berger • John Gardner (British writer) • Lawrence Turman • Lew Burdette • Matti Ranin • Maurice Couture • Pino Rauti • Poul Anderson • Rabi Ray • Ranganath Misra • Robert Goff, Baron Goff of Chieveley • Roy Sievers • Teresa Gisbert • Tôn Thất Đính • Valdas Adamkus • Vicente Aranda