Tito puente born

The G. 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. Whenever warming up he would play general quarters. One day he forgot to turn off the microphone, leading everyone to believe there was an attack. He hid below deck for a few days due to the anger from crew members for the false alarm.

Puente said his worst time in the Navy was every time he had to play taps for someone who was killed. While aboard the Santee, Puente expanded his compositional skills by learning how to arrange for big bands given the extra time he had. He was coached by Lieutenant Sweeney who he came to be friends with. Puente was offered a delayed return to the ship so he could go to different parts of the Orient LINK.

He was given several months to stop in each port city to learn about music, food, and customs. During this time he learned a lot about Asian music, experienced the culture, and learned how they apply music theory in their compositions. He learned that they use chord voicings in fourths, wrote melodies based on scales, and more.

Bands wanted Puente playing up front rather than in the back like most big bands. Not only did he play in a unique and revolutionary way, he also put on a show for the audiences. Sometimes he was the show. Puente was also a popular arranger given his background and the influence of past mentors. By , Puente started his own group. We play jazz with the Latin touch, that's all, you know.

Tito puente born

His album Dance Mania was released in Beginning in the s, Americans fell in love with mambo. Machito , who was popular and sold lots of records, was hired along with musicians to play all kinds of music for the dancers. Machito sought to bring in black and Latino consumers from Harlem that normally frequented the Savoy or Park Place Ballroom.

Their next step was starting a Sunday promotion called the Blen Blen Club , and they gave away discount cards at both subway stations and bus stops. On this night six bands were hired with Noro Morales and Jose Curbelo headlining. These bands brought in Latino, Black, and White people. This launched the Palladium era. Afro-Cubans were the first band to go to the Palladium and bring uptown beats and dancing to Broadway.

On Broadway and 7th, 53rd and 54th street had to be closed down because of the long lines around the block. Given that this was post-World War II, people were happily spending money given the economic boom and the desire to have a good time. Puente and Rodriguez constantly wanted to outdo each other and individually improved to increase the competition.

Puente's oldest son Ron Puente is from a first marriage to Mirta Sanchez. Richard "Richie" Puente was the percussionist in the s and funk band Foxy. Puente's youngest son, Tito Puente Jr. After a show in Puerto Rico on May 31, , 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 later that night.

He was well known within his community because of his involvement. Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. April 20, — June 1, , commonly known as Tito Puente , was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz compositions from his year career.

His most famous song is "Oye Como Va". His family moved frequently, but he spent the majority of his childhood in Spanish Harlem. Puente's father was the foreman at a razorblade factory. 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 cent piano lessons.

He switched to percussion by the age of 10, drawing influence from jazz drummer Gene Krupa. He later created a song-and-dance duo with his sister Anna in the s and intended to become a dancer, but an ankle tendon injury prevented him from pursuing dance as a career. When the drummer in Machito 's band was drafted to the army, Puente subsequently took his place.

His album The Legend had been nominated for a Grammy in , and he would receive seven more nominations by the mids. Puente went on to garner two more Grammys in the s, for the more traditional Latin jazz albums On Broadway and Mambo Diablo , and picked up a fourth in for Goza Mi Timbal. In , Puente was awarded an honorary degree at Columbia University.

The following year, he received a Latin Grammy Award best traditional tropical Latin performance —his fifth Grammy — for Mambo Birdland. In addition to music, Puente remained dedicated to causes affecting the Latin community throughout his lifetime. In , he created a scholarship fund for Latin percussionists at the Juilliard School. Long after, I'm gone, the fund will be helping kids.

More than a decade later, Oscar Hijuelos created a character based on Puente for his novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love Puente appeared as himself in the film adaptation of the book. Around this same time, the jazz musician guest-starred on several television shows, including The Simpsons. By the end of his decades-long career, Puente, sometimes called the "King of Latin Jazz" or simply "El Rey" "The King" , made an indelible mark on the popular culture.

In addition to making more than albums and creating more than compositions, Puente had become a highly revered musician, regarded as a musical legend in Latin music and jazz circles. His band meanwhile had mutated into The Tito Puente Orchestra and, with lead vocalist Vincentico Valdes, proceeded to change the face of Latin music. Puente took the Cuban charanga form with its flutes and violins and arranged them in more of a jazz big band context, punching up the brass and reeds for a more powerful sound.

He also started using a lot of non-Latin jazz artists like Doc Severinsen within his bands and playing arrangements of jazz standards with a Latin beat. During the s and s Puente recorded albums for GNP, Tico, and Fania with large bands and small groups, continuing the heavy schedule of touring he had developed in the s. It was in that the multi-talented Puente timbales, drums, marimba, vibraphone, percussion, vocalist, arranger won the first of his many Grammy Awards, for the album Tito Puente and His Latin Ensemble on Broadway.

With over albums to his credit, Puente recorded with most of the major names in Latin music and become a major force in the Latinization of jazz during the last half of the 20th century. Puente, Tito gale. Learn more about citation styles Citation styles Encyclopedia. Tito Puente gale. Tito Puente Tito Puente born is widely considered to be the godfather of Latin jazz and salsa, devoting more than six decades of his life to performing Latin music and earning a reputation as a masterful percussionist.

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