Orlando Marin grew up in the Bronx on Longwood Avenue around Dawson Street. It is the same neighborhood that many great Latin musicians came from (as well as did military leader Colin Powell). He is self taught having picked up lessons second hand from guys like Joe Rodriguez who studied with Machito's timbale player Uba Nieto (Orlando didn't have the money for the lessons at the time).

Orlando is one of the few drummer/bandleaders, and has been doing just that since the early 1950s when he formed his first band. It was a trio and featuring a 14-year old Eddie Palmieri on piano. His first singer with the band was Joe Quijano and the bass player was David Perez. Orlando can claim to be, at the time of this interview, the second longest running Latin band in New York, after Tito Puente's. This era that he was a part of is referred to as "The Era of The Pioneers", and the decade of the 1950s is surely the greatest era of Latin music.

His was the youngest band ever to play at the famous Paladium Ballroom at 53rd Street and Broadway in New York.
Orlando is best known for his timbale playing, but is skilled at conga and bongo as well. While he's the timbale player for his band, Orlando has sung lead vocal for most of his career. As he says, it can get a bit complicated doing the vocal improvisations while playing drums and directing the orchestra.

Orlando's career was sidelined for a few years in 1958 when he was drafted into the army where he was stationed in Korea. While others warned of him coming out from the service stale, Marin brought his practice pad with him and put two hours a day into keeping his "chops" together. The result was he came out of the military being able to play faster than when he went in. The musical group that he performed with in the army was booked to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show. As soon as this gig finished, he was shipped back to Seol, Korea where he had to dig ditches, 10' x 10', because the Secretary of Defense was coming. Rather than looking upon this physical duty as awful, Orlando saw it as a chance to get into great physical shape which he remains in to this day.

Upon exiting the military, Orlando was asked by the owner of The Paladium Ballroom to form a new group which debuted on the same bill as the greats Tito Puente and José Fajardo. In 1961, he was recording for Latin music pioneer Al Santiago's label, Alegre (which was the label to have the first hit selling album, La Pachanga by Johnny Pacheco). Before that recording, hits were singles. Orlando's most famous recording was one of the first Afro-Carribean recordings to be a hit in South America called Se te quemo la casa.

Orlando has always been committed to staying in shape and has earned quite a reputation as a stickball and handball player. He gave up stickball in 1994 but continues to play handball all around New York City.

Listen to Orlando tell this story in his own words.

Listen to Orlando play a timbale solo.