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<DIV>Posting this from home on Sunday night.<BR><SPAN
class=499002515-17092007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Re-posting today
Monday morning as the JPL list rejected my home e-mail address as i am not
enrolled here with that address </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Just got a call from Miami that legendary trombonist Generoso "Tojo"
Jimenez passed away Saturday night at a Miami hospital, he was 90 years of age.
Generoso was born July 17, 1917 in the central Cuban town of Cruces. He is
considered the first improvising Cuban trombonist, for may years he was the
music dicrector for the Beny More band, Beny immortalized Tojo in his song, Que
Bueno Baile Ud when at the end of the song over a Generoso "Tojo" Jimenez solo,
he sang Generoso que bueno toca Ud, Generoso, how well you play. In the mid-60s
Tojo recorded the landmark El Trombon Majadero album re-issued in the US by
Bembe Records in the mid 90s as The Naughty Trombone. After awaiting an exit
visa from the Cuban government for over 20 years he finally left Cuba a few
years ago and was reunited with his drummer son, Ruben "Tuti: Jimenez and other
children living in Miami. Since his arrival to Miami he played and recorded with
his contemporaries, Bebo Valdes and Cachao as wel l as Arturo Sandoval,
Paquito D'Rivera and many others.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Tojo appears on hundreds of recordings including many Cuban jam sessions
led by Cachao in the late 50s. I am sure more bio details will follow
soon. I am unable to post more details at this time as I need to run afew
errands. Perhaps tommorrow I will forward additional info for those
interested.</DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT size=2>Arturo Gómez</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=499002515-17092007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>here's
an obit I found in Monday's Miami Herald</FONT> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=499002515-17092007></SPAN><BR><SPAN
class=499002515-17092007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2> </FONT></SPAN><BR><SPAN class=499002515-17092007><FONT
face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>By WILFREDO CANCIO ISLA</DIV>
<DIV><!-- end /production/story/credit_line_format.comp -->
<P>Famed trombone player Generoso ''Tojo'' Jiménez, a pioneer of Cuba's popular
music, died of kidney failure Saturday in Coral Gables. He was 90.</P>
<P>Trombonist for legendary Cuban bandleader Beny Moré, Jiménez made his mark in
music by playing the trombone with a unique style that was both playful and
personal.</P>
<P>Jiménez died at 8:45 p.m. Saturday at Coral Gables Hospital. He was
hospitalized Aug. 29 but his health deteriorated and he fell into a coma last
Thursday.</P>
<P>''I am very sad, but I feel that I also have in me all the happiness and love
that he gave me in the last few years that I was able to be by his side,'' said
his daughter, Raquel Jiménez. ``He was an extremely loving father and a very
exceptional person, with an incredible spirit to push forward.''</P>
<P>Born July 17, 1917, in Cruces, in the old Cuban province of Las Villas,
Jiménez got his first music lessons from the director of the town band and from
a piano teacher in his hometown. His got his first trombone from friends who
bought it in a pawnshop.</P>
<P>Together with flutist Efraín Loyola and violinist Gilberto de la Rosa,
Jiménez founded in 1939 the Orquesta Rítmica.</P>
<P>Jiménez stayed in Cuba after Fidel Castro seized power in the Cuban
revolution in 1959, and in 1965 recorded <EM>El Trombón Majadero</EM>,
considered a classic in contemporary Cuban music.</P>
<P>Eventually, Jiménez fell out of grace and was denied work because his
orchestra included musicians perceived as not fully supportive of Castro.</P>
<P>''They wanted me to cut sugar cane on Sundays, to stand guard duty and wear a
militiaman uniform to be able to travel to socialist countries,'' he recalled.
``I couldn't do it.''</P>
<P>Jiménez stopped playing the trombone and became a roaming street vendor.</P>
<P>In 2003, Jiménez was allowed to travel to New York -- escorted by a Cuban
government official -- to attend a Grammy ceremony where one of his records had
been nominated.</P>
<P>He returned to the United States a few months later and stayed. He picked up
the trombone again and his career was reborn.</P>
<P>His last recording was for <EM>90 Millas, </EM>singer Gloria Estefan's new
Spanish-language album set for release Tuesday.</P>
<P>Jiménez is survived by his children Ricardo, Rubén, Regla and Raquel, in
Miami; and Regina and Raúl, in Cuba; and seven grandchildren and eight
great-grandchildren.</P>
<P>Services will be Tuesday at 6 p.m at Funeraria Ferdinand, 2546 SW Eighth St.,
Miami. Cremation will follow.</FONT> </SPAN></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>