Tico puente11/13/2023 ![]() ![]() Tito Puente's name is often mentioned in a television production called La Epoca, a film about the Palladium era in New York, Cuban music and rhythms, mambo and salsa as dances and music and much more. ![]() In early 2000, Puente appeared in the music documentary Calle 54. Puente's timbales in the Tito Puente exhibit in the Artist Gallery of the Musical Instrument Museum of Phoenix In 1992, he was inducted into the National Congressional Record, and in 1993 he received the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian. In 1969, he received the key to the City of New York from former Mayor John Lindsay. Dance Mania, possibly Puente's most well-known album, was released in 1958.Īmong his most famous compositions is the cha-cha " Oye como va" (1963), popularized by Latin rock musician Carlos Santana and later interpreted, among others, by Julio Iglesias, Irakere and Celia Cruz. Puente played popular Cuban rhythms so successfully that many people mistakenly identified him as Cuban. ĭuring the 1950s, Puente was at the height of his popularity and helped to bring Cuban and Caribbean sounds like mambo, son, and cha-cha-chá, to mainstream audiences. We play jazz with the Latin touch, that's all, you know. The GI Bill allowed him to study music at Juilliard School of Music, where he completed his formal education in conducting, orchestration, and theory after three years. He was discharged with a Presidential Unit Citation for serving in nine battles on the escort air craft carrier USS Santee (CVE-29) where his duties included playing alto saxophone and clarinet in the ship's big band as well as occasionally drum set, piano during mess hall, ship's bugler, and machine gunner during battles. Puente served in the Navy for three years during World War II after being drafted in 1942. Career Tito Puente at the Village Gate, in the 1980s When the drummer in Machito's band was drafted to the army, Puente subsequently took his place. ![]() He later created a song-and-dance duo with his sister Anna in the 1930s and intended to become a dancer, but an ankle tendon injury prevented him from pursuing dance as a career. He switched to percussion by the age of 10, drawing influence from jazz drummer Gene Krupa. Īs a child, he was described as hyperactive, and after neighbors complained of hearing seven-year-old Puente beating on pots and window frames, his mother sent him to 25-cent piano lessons. His family called him Ernestito, Spanish for Little Ernest, and this became shortened to "Tito". Puente's father was the foreman at a razorblade factory. His family moved frequently, but he spent the majority of his childhood in Spanish Harlem. Puente was born on April 20, 1923, at Harlem Hospital Center in the New York borough of Manhattan, the son of Ernest and Felicia Puente, Puerto Ricans living in New York City's Spanish Harlem. He guest-starred on television shows, including Sesame Street and The Simpsons two-part episode " Who Shot Mr. ![]() Puente and his music have appeared in films including The Mambo Kings and Fernando Trueba's Calle 54. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz compositions from his 50-year career. (Ap– June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, and record producer. ![]()
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