Tito Puente has long championed Latin-jazz, a combination of Latin percussion and rhythms with bebop-oriented jazz. This release from the Concord Picante label serves as a perfect introduction to his music. For this date
Puente (who performs on timbales and marimba) uses six horns, piano, bass, synthesizer and three other percussionists to play everything from "Donna Lee" and "Stompin' at the Savoy" to his own exotic originals. Soloists include the many reeds (including piccolo) of
Mario Rivera, trumpeter
Tony Lujan, trombonist
Art Velasco and of course the percussion section. One of
Tito Puente's better recordings of recent times. ~ Scott Yanow