Tito Puente  
April 20 1923 - May 31 2000

By The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Bandleader and percussionist Tito Puente, who rode to fame on the heels of the 1950s mambo craze and for the next five decades helped define Latin jazz, has died. He was 77.

Puente, who was recently treated for a heart problem, died Wednesday at NYU Medical Center, his agent, Eddie Rodriguez, said today. A hospital spokeswoman, Lourdes Torres, confirmed the death but said no other information was being released at the family's request.

``Tito was for me more than family'', Cuban-born singer Celia Cruz said from Buenos Aires. ``I met him in Havana in 1952 and since then I had a brother, and when I arrived in New York (after the Cuban revolution) he continued being my brother. Our world is in mourning because one of the souls of Latin music has died.''

Puente recorded more than 100 albums in his six decades in the business. In February, he won his fifth Grammy for best traditional tropical Latin performance for ``Mambo Birdland.'' He received a National Medal of Arts from President Clinton in 1997.

A trained pianist and percussionist, Puente's first musical job was as a timbale player with the Machito Orchestra, a group that had successfully merged the Big Band sound with a Latin beat.

It was there that Puente developed his flamboyant style and convinced the band leader to move the timbales -- a pair of single-headed drums mounted on stands and played with sticks -- from the back of the band to the front.

Puente's style was distinctive: wide-eyed, animated and ever-moving, he managed to draw the crowd into the music, whether they were fans or not.

``In front of a bandstand you've got to be a showman,'' Puente once said. ``Once, I was strictly a musician with a long face and back to the audience. Now I'm a showman, selling what I'm doing, giving the people good vibes.''

The eldest son of Puerto Rican parents, Puente was born Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. in New York City on April 20, 1923. (Some references give other years.)

His father, Ernest Sr., was a foreman in a razor-blade factory. His mother called her son Ernestito, Little Ernest, then shortened the name to Tito.

It was his mother who noticed his musical talent and enrolled him in a piano class at 7. Puente studied drums for years before switching to timbales.

After three years in the Navy during World War II, Puente returned to Manhattan and studied conducting, orchestration and theory at the famed Juilliard School of Music from 1945 to '47 on the GI Bill.

His reputation as a jazz arranger grew and for years he arranged and played with other orchestras until he formed his own.

When the mambo craze overtook the country in the 1950s, Puente's fame soared and he became a regular headliner at the New York Palladium. In the 1960s he headed to Hollywood where he collaborated with the brightest Latino and jazz stars of the day.

They included Celia Cruz, Charlie Palmieri, Ray Barretto, Candido, Mongo Santamaria, Cal Tjader, Woody Herman, George Shearing, Lionel Hampton and Machito.

Another was Carlos Santana, whose early hits include Puente's ``Oye Como Va.''

``Every time he plays 'Oye Como Va,' I get a nice royalty check,'' Puente said.

Among Puente's Grammy-winning recordings were a three-album tribute to Benny More featuring dozens of top Latin artists, ``Mambo Diablo'' and ``Goza Mi Timbal.''

In 1997, RMM Records released a three-CD, 50-song compilation from Puente's recorded output, titled ''50 Years of Swing.'' The first cut, ``Que No, Que No,'' is from his ``El Rey del Mambo'' (``The King of the Mambo'') recording of 1946.

``The excitement of the rhythms and the beat make people happy,'' he told The Associated Press in 1997. ``We try to get our feelings to the people, so they enjoy it.''

One of his most successful albums of the '50s was ``Puente Goes Jazz.''

``Some jazz bands, like (Stan) Kenton's, had added Latin rhythms,'' Puente told an interviewer in 1957. ``It sounded good to me. So I figured I might as well do the same thing, in reverse. I start off writing a straight jazz arrangement, then I just add a Latin rhythm section.''

``It's the same reason kids like rock 'n' roll. It has the beat. I think bop, which neglected rhythm and neglected dancers, did a lot to kill big bands.''

Puente had been released from a San Juan, Puerto Rico, hospital May 2 after two days of treatment for an irregular heartbeat. He canceled all his events in May, including three concerts planned with the Symphonic Orchestra of Puerto Rico.

He is survived by his wife, Margie, two sons and a daughter.

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In late 1949, Puente organized a line-up of four trumpets, three trombones, four saxophones and a full rhythm section for a recording session for Tico Records. One recording from this session, leaving out the trombones and saxophones, resulted in a fiery version of 'Abaniquito'. With the help of English translation by disc jockey Dick 'Ricardo' Sugar, the song became one of the first crossover mambo hits. Between the late 40s and mid-50s, Puente issued recordings on Tico. During a suspension of recording by the company in 1950 - due to a wrangle between the co-founders, George Goldner and Art 'Pancho' Raymond - Puente recorded for the Seeco, Verne and RCA labels. Along with Tito Rodríguez and Machito, Puente became one of the kings of the 50s mambo era. His consistent top billing at New York's Palladium Ballroom, the famed 'Home of the Mambo', became one of the areas of friction between himself and Rodríguez. Puente switched to RCA Victor Records and between 1956 and 1960 he released a string of albums on the label, including the notable Cuban Carnival and his all-time bestseller, Dance Mania. The album marked the debut of Santos Colón (b. 1 November, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico) as Puente's new lead singer. Colón arrived in New York in 1950 and performed with the bands of Jorge Lopés, Tony Novos and José Curbelo before joining Tito. He remained with Puente until 1970, when he departed to pursue a solo career and released a series of albums on Fania Records.

Several of Puente's Tico and RCA Victor releases between the mid- to late 50s were entirely devoted to the cha cha chá rhythm, which was enjoying considerable popularity at the time. At the beginning of the 60s, the pachanga style took over. One of the prime-movers of the dance craze was Afro-Cuban singer Rolando La Serie's 1960 smash hit recording of 'La Pachanga' with the Bebo Valdés band. The following year, while the fad was still raging at full force, Puente teamed up with La Serie to make Pachanga In New York for Gema Records.

In 1960, Tito and His Orchestra journeyed to the west coast of America to record Exciting Band In Hollywood (aka Puente Now! ) for GNP Records. Upon his arrival, Puente contacted Los Angeles-based flautist Rolando Lozano (b. José Calazan Lozano, 27 August 1931, Cienfuegos, Santa Clara Province, Cuba), an alumnus of Orquesta Aragón, Orquesta América, Orquesta Nuevo Ritmo, Mongo Santamaría and Cal Tjader. Puente rejoined Tico Records (and remained with them until the mid-80s) to make Pachanga Con Puente, which yielded the big hit 'Caramelos'. 1962's El Rey Bravo was essentially a descarga set: an untypical Puente album, it stands as one of his strongest recordings. The disc featured Cuban violinist/flautist Pupi Legarreta and spawned the original version of Puente's perennial classic 'Oye Como Va', which was given a latin-rock treatment by Santana in 1970. Around 1965, Tito linked up with Alegre Records for Y Parece Bobo, which was produced by the label's founder, Al Santiago, and featured Chivirico Dávila on lead vocals. Santiago also co-produced Cuba Y Puerto Rico Son... on Tico, Puente's first in a series of collaborations with the 'Queen of Salsa' Celia Cruz. Tito also recorded a string of successful albums with La Lupe between 1965 and 1967, and made a couple of albums with Beny Mor é's widow, Noraida, at the beginning of the 70s. On his late 60s releases, 20th Anniversary and The King Tito Puente, Tito was obliged to bow to the overwhelming popularity of the R&B/Latin fusion form called boogaloo. 'The Boogaloo meant nothing to me. It stunk', he said forthrightly in 1977. 'It hurt the established bandleaders. It was a dance Eddie Palmieri, I and other bandleaders didn't want to record but had to in order to keep up with the times' (quote from Latin Times ).

Panamanian vocalist Miguel 'Meñique' Barcasnegras, who worked previously with Kako and Willie Rosario, did a brief stint with Puente's band in the early 70s. After performing on Tito's Pa'Lante!/Straight! and Para Los Rumberos, Meñique departed to work as a solo artist (Puente arranged and directed his 1972 solo debut Meñique ) and with Santos Colón, Charlie Palmieri, Charanga Sensación de Rolando Valdés and Conjunto Chaney. In 1977, Tito and Santos Colón reunited on The Legend, the title track of which was written by Rubén Blades. The album, which was nominated for a Grammy Award, was produced by 'The Genius of Salsa', Louie Ramírez. The following year, Puente's first tribute album to Beny Moré (in a series of three volumes) won a Grammy Award. The trio of albums featured a galaxy of vocalists from the Fania Records stable, including Cruz, Colón, Cheo Feliciano, Ismael 'Pat' Quintana, Adalberto Santiago, * éctor Lavoe, Pete 'El Conde' Rodríguez, Ismael Miranda and Justo Betancourt. In 1979 and 1980, Puente toured Europe and recorded with the Latin Percussion Jazz Ensemble (LPJE), members of which included Argentinian pianist Jorge Dalto (1948-87), violinist Alfredo De La Fé and conga player Carlos 'Patato' Valdez. This group was a precursor of his own Latin jazz outfit, which debuted on the Concord Picante label in 1983 with Tito Puente And His Latin Ensemble On Broadway. He garnered another Grammy Award for the album. Tito released a further seven albums with his Latin Ensemble on Concord Picante between 1984 and 1991, two of which - Mambo Diablo and Goza Mí Timbal - received Grammys. However, Puente's work with his Latin Ensemble woefully sank into tired recycling of his earlier material. At concerts Tito and his high-calibre musicians often appeared just to be 'going through the motions'. For 1991's The Mambo King: 100th LP on RMM Records, Tito returned to a full big band line-up to back an assortment of the label's vocalists (including Oscar D'León, Tito Nieves, Tony Vega, José Alberto and Domingo Quiñones) plus Santos Colón and Celia Cruz. Although the album is purported to be his 100th, the actual total of his recordings in 1992 exceeded that figure. In addition to those mentioned, Puente has recorded with an array of Latin music and jazz names, including the Tico All-Stars, Fania All Stars, Bobby Capó, Ray Barretto, Camilo Azuquita, Gilberto Monroig, Sophy, Myrta Silva, Manny Roman, Doc Severinsen, Woody Herman, Buddy Morrow, Cal Tjader, Terry Gibbs, George Shearing, Phil Woods, Pete Escovedo and Sheila E. (Escovedo's daughter).