Horacio "El Negro" Hernández (born April 24, 1963) is a Cuban drummer and percussionist. He has played alongside Latin jazz pianists such as Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Michel Camilo, Chucho Valdés, Eddie Palmieri and Hilario Durán.

Career

"El Negro" follows the influences from Arturo Sandoval, Paquito D'Rivera, Ignacio Berroa, and others. His drumming reflects a musical heritage rooted in folklore tradition. "El Negro" first gained international recognition as the drummer for the pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and his group Proyecto. Since leaving Cuba in 1990, Hernandez has played in the U.S. with many different pop, rock, jazz and Latin jazz acts, including on many albums, some of which have received Grammy awards, including Roy Hargrove's Havana (1997), Carlos Santana's Supernatural (1999), Alejandro Sanz' No es lo mismo (2003) and Eddie Palmieri's Listen Here (2005). Hernández owns a Grammy award for the 2001 Latin Jazz album Live at the Blue Note with Michel Camilo (piano) and Charles Flores (bass). Since 2004, Hernandez has recorded and toured with his own band, Italuba. In July 2010, Hernández was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music. He was presented with the award at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy by Berklee's former Vice President of Academic Affairs, Larry Monroe. In 2011 he recorded the album Proposición, with a band including Dany Noel Martinez, Giovanni Hidalgo, Ivan Lewis, Dario Chiazzolino, Ivan Bridon and Amik Guerra. In the same year he played at the Modern Drummer Festival with his new band The New World Order; the concert was released on the Modern Drummer Festival 2011 DVD. Also in 2011 he began playing with Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos. In 2016 Hernández joined Salazh Trio, a jazz fusion group featuring bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling. Their debut work Circulations was released in December 2017.

Discography

As sideman

With Fahir Atakoglu With Jack Bruce With Michel Camilo With Hilario Durán With Kip Hanrahan With Gonzalo Rubalcaba With Kazumi Watanabe With others