TITO PUENTE - THE COMPLETE 78's vol.2 (2008)

many thanks to Jessica by GIANT STEP

more tracks can be heard on Vinilemania's Radio Channels

review by Paul J. Youngman - KJA Advocate for VINILEMANIA.NET

More Tito Puente and his Orchestra, the release of Volume II by Fania records continues where Volume I left off. Another two CD collection, forty tracks, Tito Puente, The Complete 78’s Volume 2. Many of the recordings on the CD have never been available in CD format, only on their original 78 RPM single format. The quality of the CD’s is not as clean as volume one. There is a tracking problem with the transfer that causes the speed of some of the songs to be off. One of the high light features is the inclusion of a couple of tracks by the DeCastro Sisters. Unfortunately due to the transfer from 78 RPM record to digital CD they come off sounding high pitched and out of sync. This is still, a wonderful recording project of historical and cultural importance.

Latin American music at its roots, at the time of these recordings Tito Puente was 28 years old and he was at the top of his game. Considered by many to be a genius and far ahead of his time, Maestro Puente had a knack for putting together exciting arrangements that had the power to move people, both literally and figuratively. The arrangement for “El Mambo Diablo” credited to Puente is a funky mambo number that is one such tune, fresh and exciting so many years later.

Many jazz standards are featured and it is enlightening to listen to the swinging arrangements. The jazz standard “I Get A Kick Out Of You” features Tito Puente on vibes. Another standard on the first disk is “What Is This Thing Called Love” the liner notes indicate Charlie Palmieri plays piano and Tito Puente plays vibes. The sound is not exemplary but there are moments of glory when the two masters play off each other with fire.

The second CD opens with a Maestro Puente original, entitled “Mambo En Blues”. The vocal track is by Vicentico Valdes. Back up singers, band members, sing during the chorus, Mambo En Blue as Valdes repeats the phrase. The horn arrangements are wonderful, exciting riffs that accent the vocalist’s phrasing. The percussion and rhythm section mambo with surgical precision. You have no choice but to dance to this tune.

The CD closes with a group of four mambos, “Mambo Birdland” a tribute to the famed New York club and another exciting song with some great horn playing. The next track is even more exciting, “Mambo City” the horns are smokin’ the arrangement cookin’, this is a dynamite orchestral maneuver. The last two “Mambo Mist” and “Mambo Night” explore the Afro Cuban ballad element with heavy clave rhythms and a pulsating beat that brings these songs vividly to life some sixty years later.