Tito Puente, the Jazz musician, composer, arranger and cultural icon, is known, variously as “king of timbales and mambo”, “sultan of salsa”, and most famously as El Ray - the King - of Latin Music. His Latin identity is often emphasized in a way that is somewhat unusual for Jazz musicians. Indeed, Ella Fitzgerald, or more recently, Diana Krall, do not have their cultural backgrounds so heavily stressed. Perhaps the emphasis on culture stems from the fact that Puente is Latin Music’s most prominent Jazz musician. “Perhaps it stems from more complex issues of nationalism and music culture, as Steven Loza suggests in his fascinating study, Tito Puente and the Making of Latin Music. Nevertheless, a close look at Puente’s background, innovation, and musical style and the general approach to Latin American music suggests some possible answers to the portrayal of Puente in popular culture.”
Ernesto (“Ernestito”) Antonio Puente Jr. was born to Puerto Rican Parents in New York’s Harlem Hospital on April 20, 1923. For most of his childhood, he lived on 110th Street, just off Madison Avenue. This neighborhood of El Barrio, Spanish Harlem, was a multi cultural and bilingual, exposing him to a variety of backgrounds and peoples. As a child, Puente learned to play the piano and timbales at the New York School of Music on 125th Street and Lenox Avenue. Frank “Machito” Grillo became a key influence on the young music student. Grillo emigrated from Cuba in 1937 and joined musical director Maurio Bauza to create a band.
Combining Cuban, African, and Jazz sounds, Grillo and Bauza played to New York crowds, who had become interested in Cuban music in the 1930s. Puente joined the Machito Orchestra as a drummer in 1942. As part of the ensemble, h...
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...s...” Thus, Puente’s music crated a commonality among diverse individuals in a way usually reserved for spirituality.
As Loza’s text and various other sources reveal, Puente was a multi-talented and far-reaching musician, his talent made him an influence on many. He could span the boundaries between high and low culture just as he could span and encompass the various style and genres of music he encountered during his long recording career. Mostly, however, it was his ability to create many bridges, which helped establish his reputation.
Works Cited
Child, John. The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 2nd Edition. Ed. Donald Clarke. New York: Penguin Books, 1998.
Feuerstein, Alan. Tito Puente Much More than a Legend. A.Tripp/PLANET SALSA. 1998.
Loza, Steven. Tito Puente and the Making of Latin Music. New York: University of Illinois Press, 1999.
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Perrone, Charles A., and Christopher Dunn. Brazilian Popular Music & Globalization. Gainesville: University of Florida, 2001. Print.
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Willoughby, David. "Chapter 11." The World of Music. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. 249-53. Print.
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