The one-man band of Latin jazz.

AuthorHolston, Mark
PositionErnest Anthony Puente Jr. popularly known as Tito Puente - Music

On one recent drizzly day in San Francisco, Tito Puente walked casually into a recording studio to make yet another album of his patented Latin jazz. He also made history. With his latest release, the 68-year-old musician has likely accomplished something none of his peers ever will: his 100th album. Indeed, that landmark is unique in the entire music world. No one else has even come close. And since any recording by "The King of the Mambo" is worth a shelfull by most others--if craftsmanship and style are the criteria--no one ever will. In a day when pop signers fake their way to the top and when for many artists, success is the child of hype, Puente is one of only a handful of musicians who deserve the title "legendary."

From recording studios to cavernous dance emporiums, concert halls to intimate jazz clubs, Puente--whose name literally means "bridge"--has spent almost half a century connecting the dotted lines of a widespread musical universe, bridging many idioms and cultures to make consistently artful music.

Puente is a man of many talents: a formally trained arranger and composer of classics like "Ran Kan Kan" and "Mambo Diablo"; an adept saxophonist; a master of the vibraphone and other challenging mallet instruments; an expert on more percussion instruments than many people know exist; and the world's best known timbalero, the patriarch of the timbales, the twin Cuban metal drums that are the spark plug of most Latin rhythm sections.

Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. was born in New York City in 1923 to parents who had just arrived in the United States from their native Puerto Rico. His East Harlem neighborhood--dubbed "El Barrio" by the largely Hispanic population--was a one-of-a-kind crossroads for young Latinos. Surrounded by the urban sophistication of the world's most cosmopolitan city, Puente and his friends were nonetheless strongly influenced by an island culture that maintained its love of tropical music and the mother tongue. "Ernestito" grew up with one ear tuned to boleros and rumbas while the other strained to hear the big bands of swing and an emerging tradition of improvisational jazz.

He started his music education with twenty-five cent piano lessons. Next came formal study of the drum set, spurred by his worship of drummer Gene Krupa. He even sang with a local barbershop quartet, and studied dancing. With his younger sister Anna, Puente performed as a song and dance team in the early 1930s. "I pride myself on being one...

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