Tito Puente - The Complete 78s Vol.3 (2009)

Continuing what is perhaps the most admirable reissue campaign in Latin music history, The Complete 78s, Vol. 3 presents yet another 40 tracks of Tito Puente's earliest recordings as a leader. Originally, Emusica head Giora Breil had commissioned Joe Conzo to compile and annotate a four-volume collection from the dawn of Tito Puente's leadership of a band, a series of 156 songs recorded from 1949 to 1955 and released on the Tico label as 78 rpm records. Although Puente was recording for RCA around the same time (those sides appear on The Complete RCA Recordings, Vol. 1), these Tico songs present a far different side of the Latin maestro, and there are few parallels between the material. Where Puente was recording plentiful swing crossovers for RCA ("Tuxedo Junction" and "Take the 'A' Train" in addition to his early masterpiece "Ran Kan Kan"), his material for Tico found him keeping mostly to what his core audience in Spanish Harlem wanted to hear: plentiful hard mambos with the occasional bolero or ballad and, overall, few direct concessions to mainstream music. This was the equivalent of Duke Ellington on OKeh or Charlie Parker on Dial – recordings for the hardcore faithful that showed a band as it existed instead of as it wanted to be sold. However, despite assumptions either way, that doesn't necessarily make this a better or worse set than the fruits of the RCA years, and indeed, for a crossover audience whose numbers usually overwhelm the core base, Puente's Tico recordings will be less familiar and even less dynamic. But the level of musicianship was high, with future heroes Charlie Palmieri, Mongo Santamaria, and Willie Bobo heard on volume three. In at least one area, however, Puente's band wasn't at its peak, and that was in the vocals. While Vicentico Valdez was heard often on volumes one and two, Gilberto Monroig takes over for most of the vocal features on volume three; he was a fine singer also, but again no equal of the great mambo vocalists. Still, The Complete 78s, Vol. 3 is a treasure trove for Latin fans.

Track List:

CD1:
1. Bam Baram Bam Bam 3:10
2. Picao Y Tostao 2:48
3. The Silver Star 2:50
4. El Alardoso 3:02
5. Mambo Rama 2:27
6. Tropicana 2:49
7. Caravan Mambo 3:00
8. Mambo Inn 2:35
9. Philadelphia Mambo 2:45
10. 1626 Madison Avenue 2:27
11. The Carioca 2:29
12. Cool Mambo 2:31
13. George Woods Mambo 3:06
14. Confucius Mambo 2:29
15. Baila Mi Cha Cha Cha 2:46
16. Ya Lo Puedes Decir 3:10
17. Cha Cha Cha 2:03
18. Los Rumberos Se Van 2:21
19. Bien Explicado 2:24
20. Alma Muerta 2:47

CD2:
1. Rico Melao 2:15
2. El Espejo 3:01
3. La Rumba Te Llama 2:50
4. Los Cinco Sentidos 2:37
5. La Geringoza 2:44
6. Chi Que Te Va Gustar 2:36
7. Malcriada 2:46
8. El Diablo De Esa Mujer 2:30
9. I Love You Baby 2:09
10. Bananas 2:06
11. Mambo With Me 2:56
12. Autumn In Rome 2:29
13. Happy Heart 2:53
14. Ran Kan Kan 3:10
15. Adela 2:49
16. The Man from Jamaica 2:38
17. Cha Cha Mambo 2:52
18. Oigan Mi Cha Cha Cha 2:51
19. Mambo Lenko 2:54
20. Cha Cha Bounce 2:56