Tito Puente Festival
at LatinJazzClub Magazine

Remembering Tito Puente

Richard John Cadena (Mexico City)

Everyone always talks about the people we look to as heroes during our childhood and teenage years. As a boy, my man was The Lone Ranger. As a teenager, I flipped out over Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, etc., and basketball in general. However, the child inside of each one of us continues live on vibrantly and we all have our adulthood heroes, but no one seems to pay all that much attention because we get all wrapped up in professional careers, marriage, parenthood, and things of the sort. At any rate, I was 21, almost 22, and the boy in me discovered his adulthood hero who was to remain so down through the years. This happened at the Hollywood Palladium on Sunset Blvd.

Now that I am 60 years young, I am proud to say that Tito Puente has been and will probably continue to be my adulthood hero until I catch up with him up there in the "eternal gig". Tito was the "all inclusive" complete all around musician. Although he made his mark playing timbales and vibraphone, he played practically everything else ranging from piano to saxophone. He was a consummate arranger, as well as composer. In one of my personal appearances as a guest on a Mexico City Afro-Caribbean/salsa radio program, I played "Yo Vendo Unos Ojos Negros" (a Chilean "Cuenca") and "Take Five" (a jazz classic by Dave Brubeck) back-to-back. My objective was to showcase Tito as an arranger, insofar as he took two songs that were worlds apart in their own basic origin, totally unrelated to the Afro-Caribbean world and adapted them to Afro-Caribbean structures. "Take Five" must have been a real challenge because it was originally written in 5/4 time. Tito rearranged it in 4/4 time, so that he could make the God almighty "clave" and related Afro-Cuban percussion fit appropriately. In addition, take a look at the tunes on his LP/CD on the GNP label recorded in Hollywood in 1961. The geographical variety of where those tunes came from is awesome in itself.

Who else would take on the "2001 Space Odessey" by Richard Straus, "Ritual Fire Dance" by Manuel de Falla, and all the music from Broadway's one and only "My Fair Lady". On one night, one could find Tito and the band playing rip-roaring rousingly good big Afro-Cuban mambo and other Afro-Caribbean goodies with Celia Cruz knocking everyone out with her vocals. On the next night could find Tito and his band at a Jazz festival or in a Jazz night club such as Birdland dazzling everyone with his virtuosity as a jazzman. I think it is a mistake to straight-jacket el Maestro Puente into a strict Latin or percussionist concept. He was so much more.

Another factor that made Tito so special was the very fact that he was born and raised in New York City. Yes, Tito Puente was one of the first Hispanic All American success stories. The United States, via New York City, raised, shaped, molded, and educated Tito Puente. He was a product of New York City society. Though of 100% Puerto Rican ethnic origin, Tito was the ultimate New Yorker and he had all the pizzaz, flash and daring that characterize New Yorkers. He had that New York sense of show business and it was reflected in everything he did. How he ran his band projected himself on the bandstand was all New York City show business. He opened doors in US society in general by making people aware of the new phenomenon that is sweeping the US today, namely, the American born person of Hispanic extraction and the growing Hispanic-American world inside the US. The Hispanic-"Gringo(a)" is taking his/her place in US society today as a native born son/daughter. People in Latin American are also just beginning to discover the the Hispanic personality who is born and raised in the US and whose native language is English. Tito Puente opened many of those doors. When I heard him speak, I heard vintage New York City style English.

I say this because Machito, Mario Bauza, Tito Rodriguez, and Perez Prado were all born and raised in Latin America, not the United States. Though he stood out in the latin world, Tito's mindset was all jazz from day one. He was very fortunate that life opened up a very clear path for him in the jazz world during his last twenty years of life, so that he could really hone the jazz dimension openly, not just big band Afro-Caribbean music with with jazz subtleties wherever Tito could get them to fit, without affecting standards of the "clave" that everyone has to adhereto.

Ever since I relocated to Mexico City in early 1966, I have always pushed the envelope for Tito Puente and Afro-Caribbean music. During my 30 years as an English teacher here in Mexico to speakers of Spanish, I always managed to get the name of Tito Puente out into the open by using in a sentence I may have written on the blackboard or as part of a test. Here are some examples:

Irregular verbs in past tense: write - wrote Example: Tito Puente wrote "Oye Como Va" in 1962. (affirmative) Did Tito Puente write "Oye Como Va" in 1962? Yes, he did. (question with affirmative short answer). Did Tito Puente write "Pedro Navaja" in 1962? No, he didn't (question with negative short answer) Tito Puente didn't write "Pedro Navaja" in 1962. (Negative form)

This is one of the many things I did as a teacher in the classroom. In my adventures on Mexico City radio, I always played a lot of Tito Puente. One night when I was on the air, sonero Luis Angel Silva "Melon" called the radio station, and complained to me that there were other personalities out there besides Tito Puente.

Though I never had a chance to actually hang out with him for an afternoon, I felt that I had known him very well. His music has been and will always be one of a kind. Tito was so many things all wrapped up in one person. I could go on and on extolling the virtues of Tito Puente. Everyone should have their adulthood hero. I have mine...... Don Ernesto Antonio Puente Ortiz, aka Tito Puente. What about you?

READ MORE:

Noted musicians, Jazz Journalists, radio hosts reflect on the life and times of the "King of Latin Music" Tito Puente: Larry Harlow, Sonny Bravo, Jose Madera, John Santos, Arturo O'Farrill, Howard Mandel, Victor Mendoza, JC Johnny Conga, Ruben Rodriguez, Rudy Mangual, Ralph Irizarry, Mark Levine, Erik Chico Manqueros, Vicki Sola', Cuban Pete & Barbara Craddock, Chembo Corniel, Luis Moreno, Bob DeSena, Ramiro Burr, Dr. Jazz, Kevin Espinosa, Nina Olson, Andrea Brachfeld, Mark Weinstein, Richie Gajate, Michael Bongard, Jesse "Chuy" Varela, Memo Acevedo, Norberto Rivera, Richard John Cadena, Trevor Salloum, Rae Arroyo, Mark Holston, Thomas Peña, Yosvany Terry Cabrera, Tomas Algarin

BUY TITO PUENTE MUSIC

This interview was edited by
Bobby Ramirez
br@latinjazzclub.com

Photo by Jorge Garcia from the album: Tito Puente Mambo Birdland