Latin Percussion has released a limited edition collection of drums honouring founder Martin Cohen, featuring fibreglass shells, a Champagne Sparkle finish and traditional rawhide heads that nod to the golden era of LP's 1970s instruments.
Martin Cohen’s origin story is one of those only-in-New-York tales that feels almost too good to be true. In the early 1960s, a Bronx-born engineering student caught Latin jazz live at Manhattan’s Palladium Ballroom and left buzzing. When he went looking for bongos shortly after, the Cuban embargo had made them impossible to find. Cohen went home and started designing his own.
That spark led Cohen to found Latin Percussion in 1964, spending the decades that followed building relationships with New York City’s legendary artists, filing patents like the Vibra-Slap and eventually managing the Latin Percussion Jazz Ensemble, featuring Tito Puente, which helped open the European market and take LP global. For nearly 40 years, he was the driving rhythm behind the brand.
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The Martin Cohen Limited Collection is LP’s tribute to that legacy, drawing directly from the aesthetic and construction of the instruments that defined the brand’s 1970s heyday. The collection features fibreglass shells and traditional rawhide heads – a combination that delivers the bright, punchy tone the era is known for. The series is finished in a dazzling Champagne Sparkle with a vintage-style LP badge. Each instrument includes a note signed by Martin Cohen himself.
Among the standout pieces is the Martin Cohen Mini Conga, an 11-inch conga built with a Siam Oak shell and chrome-plated hardware. Small in size but hard to ignore, it carries the same Champagne Sparkle finish and vintage badge as the wider collection.
“Martin’s mission in life was to expand the global reach and popularity of the Latin music that he loved, and it was a mission that benefitted us all,” said John ‘Dandy’ Rodriguez.
The collection is limited edition and available only while stock lasts. For percussionists who appreciate the history behind the instruments they play, it’s worth moving quickly.
The Martin Cohen Limited Collection is available now at lpmusic.com. For local enquiries, head here.
