I've written a little about Latin jazz but I've failed to mention the gentleman known as "The King of the Mambo" or more simply "El Rey". His name is Tito Puente and for over 4 decades he entertained the world with a fusion of Latin sounds and pure jazz. He was born in New York City in 1923 and just recently passed away. At the time of his death, he had recorded over 100 albums.

Trained as a professional musician, his primary fame came on the timbales on which he had no peer. He also played vibraphones, piano, congas, bongos, and saxophone and was a
gifted arranger. He studied at Julliard and the New York School of Music and wanted to be a dancer. However, an injury forced him to use his rhythmic talents on musical instruments and the world was better off for that. His first record was cut in 1946 and the All Music
Guide to Jazz describes his music as follows: "His brand of salsa is generally free of dark undercurrents, radiating a joyous, compulsively danceable party atmosphere." That can certainly be said of this 1990 album on the Concord Picante label.

The excellent liner notes for the CD were written by Hugh Wyatt who was the music critic for the New York Daily News. He points out that Puente hated the term "salsa" (much as Ellington disliked the term "jazz"). Wyatt also emphasizes the difference in Puente approach to "fusion music" from Miles Davis and Weather Report. Although those musicians were successful in putting jazz on the pop music charts, their efforts were not received well by jazz
purists who viewed the music as "watered-down jazz." Puente, on the other hand, successfully merged a number of Latin styles with some of the more complicated jazz
compositions. His arrangements of these songs stayed true to the jazz concepts and made him "El Rey" of Latin jazz.

On this album, he's joined by a number of great musicians including:

Sonny Bravo, piano
Sam Burtis, trombone
Mary Fettig, soprano, tenor sax and flute
Mitch Frohman, soprano , tenor sax and flute
Robbie Kwock, trumpet, flugelhorn
Jose Madera, c9hgas, percussion
David Rodriguez, trumpet, flugelhorn
Johnny Rodriguez, bongos, percussion

Tito plays the timbales, timbalito, marimba, vibraphone and chekere. Let's look at the music:

1. AIREGIN--Sonny Rollins (4:11)

Wyatt points out that Rollins wrote some of the most difficult jazz pieces of all time but that Puente's arrangement and leadership conveys the true jazz concept exceptionally well. Airegin is "Nigeria" backwards which symbolized racial pride and Puente keeps that pride in
evidence. Solos on trombone and sax are true to the original but the Latin beat is infectious.

2. CHA CHA CHA-Chu Chu Valdes (6:33)

Penned by one of the greatest Cuban pianists, the song virtually mesmerizes the listener with its controlled passion. Bravo plays a wonderful piano solo and there are also tremendous trumpet and sax solos although I can't tell who played these from the liner notes. This is very danceable music to say the least as the title implies. To use the terms hot and cool seems contradictory, I know, but the heat of the playing is tempered by the underlying
coolness of the Latin rhythms.

3. PENT UP HOUSE-Sonny Rollins (5:44)

The arrangement here is remarkable (by Brian Murphy). Started with percussion by three drummers. the song then floats into unison flutes and Tito's vibes before the trumpet and sax section blast in. Then Burtis plays a great trombone solo with the beat pulsating behind him. I bet Rollins enjoyed listening to such incredible renditions of his songs which remain true to the spirit of his music but add a whole new flavor.

4. PICADILLO A LO PUENTE-Puente (3:50)

Here Tito shows off his vibes chops to perfection in front of repeating piano notes and the sensual percussion. Trombone and trumpet solos follow and I just want to get up and dance. However, I have no partner here and I have two left feet so I can just be Fred Astaire in my imagination.

5. ALL BLUES-Miles Davis (5:10)

What a joy to listen to this oft-recorded masterpiece of Miles from the late '50's and find a remarkable faithfulness to the original. Arranged by Marty Sheller, it combines the original modal concepts while adding the Latin rhythms. I'm not sure how the band
accomplished this but the result is solid jazz. Another difficult composition is made to sound comfortably performed by this excellent group.

6. ODE TO CACHAO-Puente (6:33)

Tito, Millie Puente and Juan Ceballos add their voices to this very catchy song. The most "Latin-sounding" song on the CD, it includes some handclapping with the vocals but strong ensemble work by the horn sections. As I earlier noted, the atmosphere of Puente's music is festive. You want to party to these sounds because there is such joy in the production.

7. STRAIGHT, NO CHASER-Monk (4:52)

I'm not sure Thelonius wrote any easy songs to play and this one is no exception but the Puente group pulls it off with ease. Instead of piano, we have Tito's vibes and horn ensembles with the strong percussive elements present in each song. Either Fettig or Frohman play a hell of a tenor solo and then the trumpets play all around the piano and percussion in the circular manner which Monk often used. Other than Monk himself, I don't think I've heard a better rendition of this classic.

8. LAMBADA TIMBALES-Puente (4:08)

The final song of the CD also includes the vocalists from cut 6 and is a celebration of all the instruments in the band which play point, counterpoint and increasingly powerful percussive notes. The trumpet is in the register familiar to Maynard Ferguson and the whole
song leaves me in a party mood.

Puente left us with a huge number of great albums such as:

CUBAN CARNIVAL--1956 (BMG)
DANCE MANIA--1958 (BMG)
ON BROADWAY--1982 (CONCORD PICANTE)
EL REY--1984 (CONCORD PICANTE)
SALSA MEETS JAZZ--1988 (CONCORD PICANTE)
IN SESSION--1993 (BELLAPHON)
JAZZIN'-1995 (RMM TROPIJAZZ0)

Certainly, Tito Puente belongs in the Jazz Hall of Fame for his entire body of work and innovation. 5 STARS

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Romancing