Carlos "Patato" Valdes, the pint-sized Cuban percussionist who was as much a staple of Latin jazz as the instrument he played for more than 60 years, died Tuesday of complications from emphysema. He was 81.

His manager Jessie Ramirez said that Valdes passed away at a hospital in Cleveland, where he had been since Nov. 12 after becoming short of breath during a flight back home to New York, as reported by the New York Daily News.

"Patato will be remembered by all as a giant of a man, and his spirit shall live forever through his music," conga manufacturer LP, which produced a line of LP Patato Model Congas, said in a statement.

Born in Cuba in 1926, Valdes grew up playing the Cuban guitar known as the tres, as well as the African thumb piano and numerous other instruments. By the time he was a teenager, he was already considered one of the hottest conga players in Cuba.

He immigrated to the US in 1954 to take advantage of the burgeoning jazz scene, and has lived in New York since then. He played alongside some of the greatest stars of Latin music, including Tito Puente, Beny Moré, Willie Bobo, Ismael Rivera, Machito, and the Sonora Matancera.

Patato also made a name for himself as one of the jazz scene's biggest characters, known to dance on top of his congas during a set and always looking for a laugh from the audience. He is perhaps best known as the man who gave Brigitte Bardot an onscreen mambo lesson in the 1956 film And God Created Woman.

In 2000, Six Deegrees Records released Patato: The Legend of Cuban Percussion, a best-of collection from Patato's Grammy-nominated Ritmo y Candela sessions.

"We are saddened by Patato's passing and feel really fortunate that we got to work with him," Six Degrees co-founder Bob Duskis said in a statement. "He was truly one of the last great congueros of his generation and a really unique character as well. The world of Latin music will be a more boring place without him."