The Best Of Tito Puente Vol.1

Amazon.com This remastered retrospective gathers together choice recordings from Tito Puente’s greatest decade: the 1950s. Puente brought big-band jazz to traditional Afro-Cuban music and fostered an American craze for Cuban music, which originated in Puente’s native New York City. The Best Of includes such great mambos as “Swingin’ the Mambo” and “Mambo Gozon,” featuring the smooth, sweet voice of Santitos Colon, and the outstanding cha chas “Que Sera Mi China” and “Separala Tambien.” Other highlights include “A Gozar Timbero,” showcasing Puente’s enormous talent on timbales, and “Cuban Nightmare,” with its blazing horns and furious percussion. The final instrumental, “Picadillo,” shows off Gilberto Lopez’s nimble piano fingers while firing through a mambo jazz jam. Though The Best Of features recordings from as far back as 1950, the sound quality is outstanding. What’s more, the band is red-hot, and best of all, Tito’s at the height of his percussive powers. An exhilarating musical testament. –Karen Karleski