The Complete 78's, Vol. 4

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Performer: Tito Puente
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: In the history of Latin music, the name Tito Puente rides as high as that of Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker in jazz or Chuck Berry in rock. Puente combined aspects of various Latin American dance rhythms (mambo, conjunto, Afro-Cuban, son, and others) with big band jazz and assorted American pop styles for a singular sound that continues to globally influence Latin, jazz, and pop music to this day. VOL. 4 of THE COMPLETE 78's series covers the years 1949-1955, which was a pivotal era in different ways. On one hand, jazz was undergoing a revolution called bebop, while the mainstream Top 40 featured squeaky-clean pop songs. To varying degrees, Puente absorbed both into his dazzling, ebullient approach. This is a must for any serious fan of Latin-oriented music. Continuing what is perhaps the most admirable reissue campaign in Latin music history, The Complete 78s, Vol. 4 is the last in the series, presenting 36 tracks of Tito Puente's earliest recordings as a leader (roughly speaking, the mid-'50s). Originally, Emusica head Giora Breil had commissioned Joe Conzo to compile and annotate a four-volume collection from the dawn of Tito Puente's leadership of a band, a series of 156 songs recorded from 1949 to 1955 and released on the Tico label as 78 rpm records. Although Puente was recording for RCA around the same time (those sides appear on The Complete RCA Recordings, Vol. 1), these Tico songs present a far different side of the Latin maestro, and there are few parallels between the material. Where Puente was recording plentiful swing crossovers for RCA ("Tuxedo Junction" and "Take the 'A' Train" in addition to his early masterpiece "Ran Kan Kan"), his material for Tico found him keeping mostly to what his core audience in Spanish Harlem wanted to hear: plentiful hard mambos with the occasional bolero or ballad crossover and, overall, few direct concessions to mainstream music. This was the equivalent of Duke Ellington on OKeh or Charlie Parker on Dial -- recordings for the hardcore faithful that showed a band as it existed instead of as it wanted to be sold. However, despite assumptions either way, that doesn't necessarily make this a better or worse set than the fruits of the RCA years, and indeed, for a crossover audience whose numbers usually overwhelm the core base, Puente's Tico recordings will be less familiar and even less dynamic. But the level of musicianship was high, with future heroes Charlie Palmieri, Mongo Santamaria, and Willie Bobo heard on volume four. As opposed to previous volumes, this set has far fewer vocals, and none as a feature, just the occasional band vocal or sidelight for Bobo. The final volume in a great series the genre, The Complete 78s, Vol. 4 is a treasure trove for Latin fans. ~ John Bush

New York City-born percussionist Tito Puente infused his big-band music with the mambo sound he helped to popularize in the US. He started out playing with the likes of Noro Morales and Machito before starting his own band in the late 1940s. Known as "King of the Mambo," Puente styled himself after the great swing-era band leaders, and ruled for years over a dance-oriented world of Latin rhythms spiced with jazz and pop. Through mambo, cha-cha, salsa, and more, Puente's career weathered the ups and downs of musical trends, and the iconic band leader, who passed away in 2000, ranks as a legend of Latin jazz.

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