Show #127: Tito Puente

July 5th, 2007

It’s been over 7 years since Latin jazz great Tito Puente died. When I went looking for photos and saw this, I was a bit surprised because I didn’t think it was that long ago. Tempus fugit, I suppose.

Puente is another one of those musicians that I know virtually nothing about. He was eulogized by pop music magazines upon his death but they seemed to write very little about him while he was alive. I’ve got a couple of his albums so I have a cursory familiarity with his music but am unfamiliar with the man. Like lots of folks, I first heard of him when I learned that Carlos Santana’s “Oye Como Va” wasn’t a Santana song at all but rather one of Puente’s from his 1962 album El Rey Bravo. This was back in the mid-80s (ironically the same time as this week’s show) when my elementary school had a Menudo fan club.

To overcome my ignorance, I turn to Puente’s Wikipedia entry:

Tito Puente Sr. served in the Navy for three years during World War II after being drafted in 1942. He was discharged with a Presidential Commendation for serving in nine battles. The GI Bill allowed him to study music at Juilliard School of Music, where he completed a formal education in conducting, orchestration and theory. In 1969, he received the key to the City of New York from former Mayor John Lindsay. In 1992 he was inducted into the National Congressional Record, and in 1993 he received the Smithsonian Medal.

During the 1950s, Puente was at the height of his mass popularity, and helped to bring Afro-Cuban and Caribbean sounds, like mambo, son, and cha-cha-cha, to mainstream audiences (he was so successful playing popular Afro-Cuban rhythms that many people mistakenly identify him as Cuban). Later, he moved into more diverse sounds, including pop music, bossa nova and others, eventually settling down with a fusion of Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz genres that became known as “salsa” (a term that he disliked). In 1979 Puente won the first of five Grammy Awards for the albums A Tribute to Benny Moré, On Broadway, Mambo Diablo, and Goza Mi Timbal. In 1990, Puente was awarded the “James Smithson Bicentennial Medal.” He was also awarded a Grammy at the first Latin Grammy Awards, winning Best Traditional Tropical Album for Mambo Birdland. He was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. After a heart attack following a show in Puerto Rico, Puente had heart surgery in New York City, from which he never recovered. He died on May 31, 2000, just a few months after shooting for the music video Calle 54, in which Puente was wearing all-white outfit with his band.

(Photo found here.)

(What we have here is the second half of Puente’s show at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz, CA on 21 December 1985. According to my notes, the performance was not with his big band but rather with a smaller touring group. It’s a nice soundboard/audience matrix.

Setlist:

T.P’s Especial
Morning
Compadre Pedro Juan
?
El Manicero -> El Rey del Timbal (aka Shing-A-Tin Tin)

Download show

Tito Puente

For fellow Madisonians who enjoy Latin jazz, be sure to check out Tony Castaneda’s Latin Jazz Sextet.

On the video side, we have Puente and the Latin Percussion Jazz Ensemble live at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1980.

Related posts:

1. Orton Park Festival
2. Isthmus Jazz Festival 2006
3. Show #102: Rabih Abou-Khalil