Tito Puente

Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000),^[1] commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, and record producer. He composed dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz music.

Puente and his music have appeared in films including The Mambo Kings and Fernando Trueba's Calle 54. He guest-starred on television shows, including Sesame Street and The Simpsons two-part episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns?".

Early life

Puente was born on April 20, 1923, at

As 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.[4] He switched to percussion by the age of 10, drawing influence from jazz drummer Gene Krupa.^[4] 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.^[3][4] When the drummer in Machito's band was drafted to the army, Puente subsequently took his place.^[4]

Career

Puente served in the Navy for three years during

During the 1950s, Puente was at the height of his popularity and helped to bring Cuban and Caribbean sounds like

Puente is one of the subjects of a television production called La Epoca,^[10] a film about the Palladium era in New York, Cuban music and rhythms, mambo and salsa as dances and music and much more. The film discusses many of Puente's, as well as Arsenio Rodríguez's, contributions and features interviews with some of the musicians Puente recorded with.

Personal life and death

Puente's oldest son Ron Puente is from a first marriage to Mirta Sanchez. Richard "Richie" Puente was the percussionist in the 1970s funk band Foxy. Puente's youngest son, Tito Puente Jr., has performed and recorded many of Puente's songs. His daughter Audrey Puente is a television meteorologist for WNYW and WWOR-TV in New York City.

After a show in Puerto Rico on May 31, 2000, Puente suffered a massive heart attack and was flown to New York City for surgery to repair a heart valve, but complications developed, and he died on June 1, 2000.^[11] He was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

Awards and recognition

• In 1995, Puente received the Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award.^[12]
• On September 10, 2007, a
  José Serrano
  .
• An
  amphitheater was named after him at Luis Muñoz Marín Park, next to the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, in San Juan, Puerto Rico
  .
• In 1995, Puente was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.^[13]
• Puente performed at the closing ceremonies at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. The timbales he used are displayed at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
• In 1997, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.^[14]
• In 1990, he received a Star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.^[15]
• In 1984, he received an honorary Decree from the Los Angeles City Council.
• On June 5, 2005, Puente was honored by Union City, New Jersey with a star on the Walk of Fame at Union City's Celia Cruz Park.^[16]
• In 1999, he was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame.^[17]
• On May 19, 1999, he received an honorary Mus.D degree from Columbia University.^[18][19]
• On August 20, 2000, East 110th Street in Spanish Harlem was named 'Tito Puente Way'.
• In 2011, the US Postal Service issued a commemorative postage stamp in his likeness as part of their Latin Legends series. ^[20]
• On October 11, 2022, Puente was honored with a Google Doodle in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.^[21]

Discography

As leader

As sideman

With Dizzy Gillespie

• Rhythmstick (1990)

With Benny Golson

• Remembering Clifford (Milestone, 1998)

With Quincy Jones

• Quincy Plays for Pussycats (Mercury, 1959–65 [1965])

With Hilton Ruiz

• Rhythm in the House (RMM, 1976 [1998])

With Sonny Stitt

• The Matadors Meet the Bull (Roulette, 1965)

With Bobby Sanabria

• ¡NYC Aché! (Flying Fish Records, 1993)

Filmography

Selected feature films

• Armed and Dangerous (1986) as Band Leader
• Radio Days (1987) as Latin Bandleader
• The Mambo Kings (1992) as Himself

Documentaries

• Tito Puente: The King of Latin Music (2000)^[23]
• Profiles Featuring Tito Puente Jr. (2007)
• Latin Knights (2005)
• Calle 54 (2000)^[24]

Concert films

• Tito Puente – Live in Montreal (Montreal Jazz Festival) (1983) (2003)
• Tito Puente – Palladium Days (Newport Jazz Festival) (1997)

The Simpsons

Puente appeared in the two-part

The Emmy-nominated song "Señor Burns" from the episode is featured on both the 1997 album Songs in the Key of Springfield and the 1999 album Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons.

References

Further reading

• Steven Loza (1999) Tito Puente and the Making of Latin Music, University of Illinois Press
• Josephine Powell (2007) "Tito Puente: When The Drums Are Dreaming", (Authorhouse 2007)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tito Puente.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Tito Puente.

• Tito Puente at NPR Music
• Tito Puente discography at Discogs
• Tito Puente at
  IMDb
• Tito Puente at Find a Grave
• Tito Puente Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection (1997)