Tito Puente
Cuba Y Puerto Rico Son... Tito Puente Y Celia Cruz
CD
(Fania Codigo 509090),
Released 1966;
Re-Issued 2011
Produced by Al Santiago & Pancho Cristal
Arranged by Tito Puente
Editor's Pick:
"This is Celia's first LP with Tito. It was also a very emotional one for Celia. I know, I was there. Check out 'Me Acuerdo De Ti'. " (Joe Conzo, 96/97 Catalog)
"The king and queen in all their regalia. Tito's 'balls to the wall' big band with 'la guarachera's' all encompasing vocals on everything from merengue, cumbia, bomba, etc." (Bobby Sanabria, 94/95 Catalog)
**Classics Revisited**
"One day in 1965, I received a call from Tito (Puente). He told me he would like to work with me on a steady basis, and I told him that I would be honoured," recalled Celia Cruz in her posthumously published autobiography My Life. "He told me to wait for a call from a man called Morris Levy, and a few days later, Mr. Levy signed me to record for Tico Records. In January 1966, I began working with Tito on our first album." Cuba Y Puerto Rico Son was recorded at New York's National Recording Studios and courtesy of José Madera, TP's musical director for 14 years, details of the musicians who played on the date are listed below. Note that the trombone section features the revered Barry Rogers and Jose Rodrigues from Eddie Palmieri's trailblazing Conjunto La Perfecta.
Celia admitted that none of her albums with Tito were big hits, "although we did have a few successful singles." She believed: "the lack of commercial success with those albums was due to a lack of advertising, since the albums themselves were wonderful." Cuba Y Puerto Rico Son features a mixed programme of Latin rhythms and a dose of rock. With the privilege of hindsight, it's apparent that two of the album's most outstanding cuts are the guaracha-mambo "La Guarachera", written by the prominent sonero Chivirico Dávila, and the powerful guaguancó "No Hay Amigos" penned by the Cuban composer Eliseo Grenet. "La Guarachera" is effectively Celia's calling card heralding her new musical partnership: "Make way, here I bring in my voice a cordial greeting. Guarachera, the people call me. I with Tito Puente am going to dance guaracha." In the song's added mambo section, a brief call and response exchange of scat vocals from Celia and timbal phrases from TP is followed by a full timbales firework display from El Rey. Dávila also composed the bomba "La Plena Bomba Me Llama" and merengue salve "Salve Pa' Tí". Thanks to José Madera for musician credits and additional details.
Highly recommended.
[Note from the Editor: We are happy to offer the new digitally remastered reissues from the classic salsa label, Fania. Brought to you by Codigo, which, over time, will be reissuing the entire catalog with improved sound and superb liner notes too - some of which are written by Descarga.com's own virtually resident scholar, John Child.
Many of these new reissues have been remastered by Jon Fausty or Bob Katz, so even if you already own the older CD version you might want to consider upgrading to the new improved edition. They're even less expensive than the originals were! Good news all around. Highly Recommended.] (John Child, 2011-04-21)
Song titles include:
La Guarachera 2:44
Mi Deseperacion 3:15
La Plena Bomba Me Llama 2:48
Desencanto 4:09
Cumbiando 2:32
Tinicue 3:05
No Hay Amigos 2:54
Me Acuerdo De Ti 4:03
No Juegue Con El Diablo 2:45
Herencia Gitana 3:10
La Rueda 2:04
Salve Pa'Ti' 2:14
Musicians include:
Pat Russo Trumpet
Jimmy Frisaura Trumpet
Pedro "Puchi" Boulong Trumpet
Victor Paz Trumpet
Barry Rogers Trombone
Mark Weinstein Trombone
Sonny Russo Trombone
Jose Rodrigues Trombone
Jesús Caunedo Sax
Milton Hissler Sax
Al Abreu Sax
Shep Pullman Sax
Frankie Malabe Conga
Jimmy Centeno Bongo and Cencerro
José Mangual Bongo and Cencerro
Gilbert López Piano
Bobby Rodríguez Acoustic Bass
Tito Puente Timbales, Vibes, Drumset and Musical Director
Felo Brito, Willie Torres, Santos Colón and Tito Puente Coro
Celia Cruz Lead Vocals
Category: Salsa/Son
=> Salsa: Classic 1960s Or 1970s New York
Shipping Value: 1
ORDER TL-230.11 CD $14.98
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