(1920– ) bandleader, percussionist, composer; born in New York City. Of Puerto Rican parentage, he served in World War II and then studied at Juilliard. In 1947 he formed what became the Tito Puente Orchestra and became a leader of the mambo and cha-cha-cha fads in the 1950s. From the 1960s to the 1980s he made over 40 albums, some fusing Latin with other musical styles and traditions. He left his big band in 1980 and moved into more jazzlike music with a smaller ensemble, performing at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1984. But he continued to be popular as North America's grand old man of Latin American music and appeared as himself in the movie, The Mambo Kings (1992).
They have shared the stage and billings with such major acts as Tito Puente, Tito Puente Jr., Eddie Palmieri, Andy Montanez, Los Hermanos Moreno, Arturo Sandoval, Branford Marsalis, the Count Basie and Woody Herman Orchestras, and others.
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