Tag Archives: Jack Costanzo

Final Note: Jack Costanzo

Life Member. Bongos
9/24/1919 – 8/18/2018

Born in Sept. 24, 1919 in Chicago, Illinois, Jack Costanzo universally gets credit for introducing the bongo drums to American jazz. As a teenager, he witnessed a Puerto Rican dance group whose leader played bongos, and there was no looking back. With no one to help, Costanzo had to teach himself to play. He fashioned a pair of bongos out of wooden butter tubs and began his long percussion quest. Continue reading