The cause was complications from a kidney operation, said Andy Gonzlez, his musical director of 35 years in their band, Libre.
Mr. Oquendos involvement with Cuban rhythms on the timbales and bongos dated back to his childhood. Born in 1931 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to parents from Puerto Rico, Jose Manuel Oquendo spent most of his formative years in Spanish Harlem, where he lived above Almacnes Hernndez, the areas early famed Latin record store, and later on Kelly Street in the Bronx. Also nearby on Kelly Street were Arsenio Rodrguez, the celebrated master of the tres, the Cuban guitarlike instrument, and future music stars like Joe Cuba, the Palmieri Brothers and Little Ray Romero.
Mr. Oquendo began playing a trap drum set at 15 and later took lessons, alongside the future jazz drummer Max Roach, from Sam Ulano, a well-known teacher.
By the late 1940s, he was playing with New Yorks top bands along with Chano Pozo and Juan Torres, known as El Boy. When Mr. Oquendo joined Tito Puentes orchestra as a bongo player he often used his sartorial and musical talents to attract the attention of the surging seas of dancers in places like the Palladium ballroom. In 1962, he joined Eddie Palmieris seminal band, La Perfecta, which challenged the big band scene with a smaller, conjunto lineup that called for fewer players and more improvisation.
Those familiar with the traditional dance hall rhythms of Cuban mambos, guarachas and rumbas could see that Mr. Oquendos approach to his instruments was intentionally understated.
First of all, you shouldnt overplay. The timbales are for providing accompaniment, backup for the group; and a good timbalero must have a strong left hand to play the tumbao and pailas or cascara. The timbalero must always keep the beat.
Manny Oquendo
While playing in La Perfecta, where he met Mr. Gonzlez, his future musical director and a bassist, Mr. Oquendo picked up and adapted the complex carnival rhythm called Mozambique, made popular in Cuba by Pello El Afrokn, and reworked it for the timbales, introducing a hypnotic African beat to the dance halls of New York. In 1974, he and Mr. Gonzlez began Libre, creating a sound outside traditional parameters.
Libre has released 12 albums, including the popular Mejor que Nunca.
In a review of a 1983 concert in The New York Times, Jon Pareles called Libre a traditionalist band with infusions of modal Afro-Cuban jazz that made it progressive.
But when Libre charges into its arrangements, which unite three trombones, Dave Valentins nimbly assertive flute, two singers and a sizzling rhythm section, Mr. Pareles wrote, those categories are lost in the beat.
