Tito Puente on Broadway

I recently reupped Perez Prado's first American LP, and enjoyed the experience of remastering that recording so much, I went looking for more mambo sounds for you.

I didn't have far to look because as it happens, Tito Puente is right next to Perez Prado on my shelves.

The young Puente at a recording session

The two are often linked as Cuban musicians, but in actuality only Prado hailed from Cuba (and even he achieved fame in Mexico). Puente was born in the New York and was of Puerto Rican descent. If you look online, you will see Puente hailed as the "Mambo King" and Prado as the "King of the Mambo."

Whatever their ancestry and whoever was king, they both made superb records, and this one is a particularly fine example. It starts out with the incredible "Ran-Kan-Kan" and goes from there, powered by Puente's hyperactive timbales, with hardly a low point (possibly excepting the mambo version of "Tuxedo Junction"). The passionate lead vocalist is apparently Vitin Avilés, although this is nowhere noted on the LP.

This 10-inch LP dates from 1953; however, a discussion of Puente's recordings here suggests these sides were made from 1949 to 1951. At that time, Puente worked mainly for Tico Records, but during a lull there he did these sides for RCA Victor's international division. RCA's American label signed him away from Tico in 1955.

The sound on these recordings is remarkably vivid.