Enrique (Mono) Villegas, Renowned Jazz Pianist of Argentina, Dies at 72
Enrique Villegas, widely considered to be Argentina’s best jazz pianist, has died of a heart attack, relatives said Friday. He was 72.
Nicknamed “Mono,” Spanish for monkey, Villegas was born in Buenos Aires in 1913. He often said he learned to play the piano before he learned to talk. Schooled in classical music as a youngster, jazz quickly became his passion.
“What classical music? All so-called classical music really has been jazz, from Bach to Shumann and Chopin,” he once said.
Villegas was the first jazz pianist to play in Buenos Aires’ world-renowned opera house, the Colon Theater, and repeatedly toured both Europe and the United States. He lived for a decade in the United States beginning in 1963, and once played with Duke Ellington.
He returned to Buenos Aires in the 1970s and remained an active performer until September, when he fractured a hip in a car accident.
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