JAZZ NOTES: Leopoldo Fleming, pulsating percussionist, dies at 85

JAZZ NOTES: Leopoldo Fleming, pulsating percussionist, dies at 85

Leopoldo Fleming, the conguero and percussionist, and composer whose multi rhythms ignited the definitive sounds of Miriam Makeba, Nina Simone, and Harry Belafonte, died on April 28 in Paterson, N.J. He was 85.His son Klzinga Fleming did not give a cause of death.For six decades, Fleming’s magic was his effortless blending of African, Caribbean, and American musical traditions into a singular soul-stirring sound — he was a rhythm keeper of herit…