The archetype of an Afro-Cuban jazz drummer would probably be Chano Pozo, the pioneering "conguero" whose infuence on jazz was heard around the world. He wrote "Manteca" while he was with Dizzy Gillespie’s band. He had forearms the size of tree trunks. He died in 1948.


Somewhere near the opposite end of this spectrum, in the small Havana flat she shares with her parents, siblings and grandmother, Yissy sits down behind a modern drum kit. That’s right: she’s not playing congas today. She’s 21, has the sinewy good looks of a supermodel, and plays as if she were already the legend she seems on her way to becoming.