[2] In his youth he played timbales with Latin music stars such as Tito Puente and co-founded a group named Los Rumberitos.

[2][3] Quiñones spent the next five years in salsa master Willie Colón's band,[2] playing every percussion instrument at one time or another.

[2] In 1989 Quiñones joined the jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra where he played for two years.

[2] After a chance meeting with Butch Trucks in 1991, he was recruited to join The Allman Brothers Band.

[4] There he played alongside original drummers Trucks and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson; the general pattern was that Trucks was the timekeeper, Johanson added colors, and Quiñones established rhythms that the guitarists played against.