Remembering Tito

It was my first year working as a journalist in Chile, when an experienced coworker burst into the newsroom: "Tito Puente is dead, please let’s have a moment of silence!".

The computers stopped abruptly and a silence crossed the room. Each of the journalists lowered their heads and honored the departure of  “The King of the Timbales."

I must be honest, until that moment, I knew little about one of the artists that changed the face of Latin music in the world and who brought Afro-Cuban sounds to the mainstream. And this week we commemorate 20 years of his death.

Ernesto Puente was born in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York in 1923. His Puerto Rican parents had emigrated from the island just three years earlier in search of new opportunities.

He was a true genius, he started his career when a child, and at the age of 13 he had already participated in a couple of musical bands. But it was not until 1941 when he joined the Machito Orchestra when legend began.  

Rhythms like Cha-cha-cha, Mambo, Conga, Rumba, among others were part of the musical repertoire and he is responsible for getting them out of the underground to the fame that today are part of the soundtrack of our lives.

After being drafted to fight in the Second World War; when he came back in 1949 he created his first musical band and the song Abaniquito is considered his first hit.

Puente was a bridge between cultures and sounds (puente means literally bridge in spanish). He collaborated with many artists from Jazz to Boogalo, from classical music to pop.   

Among others he recorded albums with DIzzy Gillespy, Benny Goldsom and Hilton Ruiz. But his most famous composition is “Oye como va” which made Carlos Santa popular 12 years later when he wrote it. 

For Grand Cata, Tito Puente is a constant source of inspiration, his music vibrates in our stores and his legacy continues day by day.

Rafael Rodríguez, Trumpeter of the band Soja and childhood friend of co-founder Pedro, tells us from Puerto Rico that the influence of Tito Puente can be seeing in different dimensions “he was a creator and multifaceted musician, from the way he composed to the way of conducting a band he was definitely a master in all fields”. 

Puente recorded 120 albums, won 5 Grammy Awards and today the street where he lived for years in East Harlem bears his name.

Tito Puente is not with us today, but his legacy and the rhythm of his  timbales can still be heard from Harlem to La Patagonia. 

* You can listen to Tito Puente on our Spotify Play List Remembering Tito, enjoy!