To me, genius is finding your base as an artist, then bringing and accepting the world around you, then finally using what the world gives you to your own advantage with your base as an artist in mind. Looking back through out history of all art, all geniuses do this which sets them apart from everyone else. Their impact, whether it’s negative or positive, will have a huge impact and change the course of their art form. For the Latin community, this impact sometimes came with a invigorating piano introduction, a drum rhythm that hit you and hooked you from the start and kept you through out the song. This was the genius of “mambo king”, Tito Puente. Tito Puente, who’s referred to as the mambo king in Latin music, was a fusion of many styles
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However, this jazz & Latin music fusion Puente was trying to achieve did not take place until the 60s, running parallel with the precursor of the 70s boom in the United States. During this time, Puente successfully fused jazz and Latin music, with the help of Buddy Morrow, in his LP Revolving Bandstand. The album was definitely not a departure from Latin Music, or jazz music, but was exactly what Puente set out to do. He continued to fuse jazz and Latin music in his 80s recordings like “un poco loco”influencing many musicians during this …show more content…
His sound cannot be ignored, from a dancing consumer, to an aspiring arranger and Latin musician. Puente was unmatched due to his energy on the timbales, with solos improvised by Puente on many occasions, made him the mambo king that he became. Looking back at his body of work, as well as his compositional ability, he was no different than a Beethoven when it came to writing. Puente, like Beethoven, made his work sit alone while the rest of his peers and legion of fans in music idolized and tried to learn his varied, broad style. His Afro-Cuban roots, incorporating son music into his pieces, his modernized compositional and arrangement style aided his resonance in the American demographic, and his Jazz influence made him a varied musician that will live on forever and influence many other musicians, regardless of genre. His genius was rewarded acclaim from his peers and culture alike, thanking him for “making us want to dance and sing”. He definitely
However, this jazz & Latin music fusion Puente was trying to achieve did not take place until the 60s, running parallel with the precursor of the 70s boom in the United States. During this time, Puente successfully fused jazz and Latin music, with the help of Buddy Morrow, in his LP Revolving Bandstand. The album was definitely not a departure from Latin Music, or jazz music, but was exactly what Puente set out to do. He continued to fuse jazz and Latin music in his 80s recordings like “un poco loco”influencing many musicians during this …show more content…
His sound cannot be ignored, from a dancing consumer, to an aspiring arranger and Latin musician. Puente was unmatched due to his energy on the timbales, with solos improvised by Puente on many occasions, made him the mambo king that he became. Looking back at his body of work, as well as his compositional ability, he was no different than a Beethoven when it came to writing. Puente, like Beethoven, made his work sit alone while the rest of his peers and legion of fans in music idolized and tried to learn his varied, broad style. His Afro-Cuban roots, incorporating son music into his pieces, his modernized compositional and arrangement style aided his resonance in the American demographic, and his Jazz influence made him a varied musician that will live on forever and influence many other musicians, regardless of genre. His genius was rewarded acclaim from his peers and culture alike, thanking him for “making us want to dance and sing”. He definitely