Tito Puente
Most of the rock generation is familiar with Tito Puente through Santana’s cover
of “Oye Como Va” and his appearance in The Mambo Kings. By venturing closer to
the source, they will discover what Latin jazz fans have known for years:
Puente’s intoxicating mix of Big Band jazz and Latin music creates Mambo madness
at its finest. Tito Puente is credited with fusing Cuban charangas with Big Band
swing and Bop. Puente always had one eye on dance fans and indeed, his music
puts the ghost of St. Vitus in your body.
But his other eye was planted on jazz fans — he loved arranging for composers such as Horace Silver and his soulmate
Dizzy Gillespie. There are many similarities between Puente and Diz’s various big bands — chief among them the spirit of global brotherhood that they celebrate. But Tito Puente never let his jazz side distract from his music’s mass popularity; when the Big Band era was long gone, Puente not only kept his band together but saw it thrive. With more than a hundred albums to his credit,
at least one or two should be a part of every collection.
- Nick Dedina
Source: Salsa Music Lovers
of “Oye Como Va” and his appearance in The Mambo Kings. By venturing closer to
the source, they will discover what Latin jazz fans have known for years:
Puente’s intoxicating mix of Big Band jazz and Latin music creates Mambo madness
at its finest. Tito Puente is credited with fusing Cuban charangas with Big Band
swing and Bop. Puente always had one eye on dance fans and indeed, his music
puts the ghost of St. Vitus in your body.
But his other eye was planted on jazz fans — he loved arranging for composers such as Horace Silver and his soulmate
Dizzy Gillespie. There are many similarities between Puente and Diz’s various big bands — chief among them the spirit of global brotherhood that they celebrate. But Tito Puente never let his jazz side distract from his music’s mass popularity; when the Big Band era was long gone, Puente not only kept his band together but saw it thrive. With more than a hundred albums to his credit,
at least one or two should be a part of every collection.
- Nick Dedina
Source: Salsa Music Lovers