THE LEGACY TOMMY OLIVENCIA He is another son of Villa Palmeras in whose essence beat strongly the cultural heritage, grifa and cangrejera (crabber’s bomba), of Gilberto Monroig, Cortijo, Rafael Cepeda, Pellín Rodríguez and Ismael Rivera. Angel Tomás “Tommy” Olivencia Pagán will be remembered as a visionary musician with a strong self-identity who, during four and a half decades, knew how …

“No one in the world has done more for Afro-Cuban music than Tito Puente.” This is what Mario Bauzá – creator of Afro-Cuban jazz and legendary musical director of Machito’s Afro-Cubans, stated when talking about Puente. Born to Puerto Rican parents in NYC’s Harlem Hospital on April 20, 1921, Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (not Ernesto or Antonio, as has been …

With this 1968 album, Tito Puente was proclaimed “The King” of Latin music and with it, he made an important contribution to the era of boogaloo. Boogaloo was a genre of Latin music that was born in New York City in the late 1960’s. It was a fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms, with soul, R & B, and rock that originated …

Rhythm is at the core of the classic LP Puente In Percussion. More often than not, the polyrhythms on this recording are wild and pulsating. The story behind this pioneering album has been well documented. Tito himself told me that he went to see George Goldner, president of Tico Records (1954-55), and told him that he wanted to make a …

Although Tito Puente (1923-2000) recorded more than 100 albums in his long career, “Homenaje A Beny” stands out as the recording that gave him the first of his five Grammy’s. From the late 1940’s to the 1960’s, Puente fueled the great mambo era and helped to popularize the cha-cha. By 1978, Puente had already been proclaimed the King of Latin …

“Cuba y Puerto Rico son…de un pájaro las dos alas…” “Cuba and Puerto are… the two wings of one bird…” These prolific words were written by the Puerto Rican poet and revolutionary Lola Rodriguez de Tio in 1893 and speak to the unique cultural, musical and political relationship of the two islands. In 1966, two titanic musical forces from these …

From fiery mambo jams and hypnotic percussion descargas to silky jazz sessions and torrid bolero interludes, Tito Puente did it all. The Nuyorican timbalero’s thirst for experimentation was limitless. And even though he left behind a legacy of over 100 recordings, Puente never made a bad album. The collection you hold in your hands is not as widely celebrated as …

Released in 1972, Algo Especial Para Recordar was the last in a series of excellent LPs that the late Cuban diva Celia Cruz and Nuyorican timbalero Tito Puente recorded for the Tico label between the mid-’60s and the early ’70s. Just like previous Celia and Tito efforts like Cuba y Puerto Rico Son… (1966) and Quimbo Quimbumbia (1969), however, the …

A contemporary of Hector Lavoe, Papo Lucca and top arranger José Febles, Gómez was born in less-than-advantageous conditions in the former Juana Díaz sector of Santo Domingo (not too far from where the newer Urbanización Santo Domingo now stands, close to the Jacagüas River). Similar to other artists of the time, he first earned his living as a shoeshine boy …

INTO THE 80’S TIPICA 73 This album marks the end of a musical era. Despite the fact that Típica 73 continued to perform in various combinations, this was the last studio recording that the band made. On this recording, a number of interesting phenomena foreshadow the future of this musical group. First, Típica continued to record songs by Cuban composers, …

In his liner notes for the original LP, Sonny Bravo wrote that the Típica 73 repertoire and arrangements heard on this recording actually came from informal Monday night jam sessions at a New York club. “There were no charts then,” wrote Bravo describing the band’s collective arranging style. We relied mainly on old charanga standards. I would start off with …

The history of La Sonora Ponceña begins in Ponce, Puerto Rico. La Ponceña started with just two trumpets and no piano and is now an international musical institution with an immediately recognizable, clear, and pronounced four trumpet sound. It is directed by one of the most important piano players in Latin Music: Papo Lucca. What do you do when you …

When Puerto Rico’s most dynamic and popular tropical orchestra released this 1984 recording, salsa was slipping into darkness, opaqued in clubs and on radio by the merengue craze swept in with the wave of immigrants coming into New York and Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic. But you wouldn’t know it from Sonora Ponceña’s “Future.” As if predicting the yet …

The musical troupe hailing from Ponce, Puerto Rico, created by the venerable Enrique “Quique Lucca” Caraballo in 1954, evolved from the Conjunto Internacional, also formed by Lucca, in 1944. The group was joined by bongo player Antonio “Tato Santaella,” as well as trumpeter and guitarist Filiberto Ojeda Rios, who later gained fame and recognition as the trumpet master of the …

In 1978, Mr. Quique Lucca and his son Papo faced the challenge of celebrating the twentieth anniversary of his Sonora Ponceña without its lead singer Luigi Texidor. Luigi, the niche santaisabelino who popularized such hits as Fuego En El 23, Acere ko, La Pobreza Y Yo, El Pío Pío and others, said goodbye to the orchestra with the LP El …

Bands such as La Terrífica, Conjunto La Perla, and more recently, La Clásica de Eric Rivera all ascended from the majestic city of Ponce, Puerto Rico also known as the Island of Enchantment. However, not one has delighted salsa fans with the consistency of Sonora Ponceña, known as La Querendona del Bailador and El Látigo del Sur. In 1979 the …