Tito Puente, Jr: Continuing the Legacy "In My Father's Shoes"

Tito Puente Jr., was happy to show me his Latino line entitled "Havenaro" at the Perry Ellis showroom where we met for our interview. Instrumental in the design and as a spokesperson for the line, Tito is very proud of his tropical wear. "The shirts have a tropical look and also a musical motif. It is casual wear as well as office and evening wear. Also, the Havenaro line includes shoes, hats, ties and other accessories and can be found at JC Penney stores. The clothing looks great on everyone, although, we are targeting a youth market from 18 to 24. Eventually, Havenaro hopes to include a women's line," claimed the enthusiastic and bubbly band leader.

Son of the late, great, Tito Puente (Latino orchestra leader and performer extraordinaire), Tito Puente, Jr., is proud to step into his father's shoes. He had the opportunity in New York on June 30th when he and the Tito Puente Orchestra joined forces with C. Calloway Brooks (Cab Calloway's grandson), Gloria Lynne, Dave Valentin, the Pielcanela and Cotton Club Dancers, newscaster Roz Abrams and a number of wonderful performers for the Harlem Jazz & Musical Festival's "Night of Swing" Salute to Swing Jazz. The event held at City College's Aaron Davis Hall paid tribute to Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman and Chick Webb and other jazz and swing greats. "It is going to be magic night of jazz, swing, Latino music, bebop, everything. It will be a night of stars gathered together for the great cause of music and to raise funds for the Harlem City Museum," explained Puente before the concert.

"Being the son of El Rey Tito Puente was truly an honor and privilege," says Tito Puente, Jr. "I got to be with my father for 33 years of my life before he died in 2000. What a treat and honor it is to be his son and to carry on his legacy. I intend to give all the full respect due to his music, compositions and writings. My father was an amazing man, led an amazing life and there is an amazing story to tell. I hope one day the movie will come, too. We are working on that. We are working on the whole story: mine and my fathers."

Puente, Jr., has been compared to his father in terms of looks, personality and mannerisms although he has his own style. He gives his father credit for allowing him to choose his own destiny. "After my father passed, I felt it became my destiny to keep his music and his spirit alive and make sure the youth of today remember who Tito Puente was. This particular record I just came out with, "In My Father's Shoes," was made as a tribute to him. I took my father's old arrangements from the 1950s and I redid them into a 2004 version and added a little twist to it. I did recordings such as "Here's To You," and "Oye Como Va." Oye Como Va is a very famous song my father wrote and that Carlos Santana made a rock version of in the '70s. The music is mambo/salsa, raised and bred in New York, with a swing jazz flavor to it. I have dance music hits, too. I have always had different styles of music that influence me and that I have incorporated into my career. I have been influenced by hip hop, house and dance music. That is what New York is about. It's based upon the different cultures and rhythms and people coming together. That is why New York is the great melting pot. Hispanics are presently the largest minority community right now and I suspect will soon become the majority," chuckles Tito. "With artists like Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Latin artists are crossing over to a new age of kids who are beginning to know about the music of the original pioneers; artist such as Celia Cruz, Tito Puente and Martito. In fact, the artists of today would not be where they are, were it not for them. I see it all coming back around like a revolution. It's Afro Cubano music and reflects the sound of Africa. We took that African sound and jazzed it up and made it our own. The sound was brought over by the African slaves and the black Cubans brought it to America," stated Tito. "Öwith all due respect to my Puerto Rican heritage, my father, played Cuban music. He was just a Puerto Rican playing it. The real name of this sound is called Guaguanco, Rumba, Cha, cha, cha and el mambo. Today they call it salsa. I say that salsa is what you dip your chips into. It's all about the drums and percussion of African music."

Tito Puente Jr., won the Best Salsa Video of the Year Award before his father's death. "Winning that award was a privilege and honor. I was very surprised that we won for Best Video of the Year for "Oye Como Va." My father was in the video. He was so proud to enjoy this win with me when I was presented with the award. It was one of the best days of my life because I got the award right in front of my old man and he was very proud."

During the early '50s and '60's, 3 legendary bands played at a night club called the Palladium. These bands were the highlight of Wednesday nights. The bands use to challenge one another to see which band could get the most people on the dance floor. "Mario Grillo, Tito Rodriguez, Jr., and myself resurrected that era. We called ourselves the Big 3 Palladium Orchestra in tribute and out of respect for that era and music. We just finished a live recording entitled, "Live at the Blue Note" which we expect to be released in July. Each of us has our own orchestra but for this one CD we combined our orchestras together. It was about 25 guys on stage and we came up with an amazing sound. Sonically, there was nothing to top it. Interestingly enough, as we were performing we could feel the spirits of our fathers come into that room. Everyone felt it. It was really that rare moment of magic that sometimes you are lucky to experience. We had that moment of magic."

Tito was fortunate to work with one of the greats of Salsa music, Celia Cruz, the Queen of Salsa. "Celia Cruz was the Queen and forever will be the Queen of Salsa. To me, she was a madrina to my family and like a sister to my father. She was a beautiful and brilliant woman with a great voice. Talk about trials and tribulations and conquering borders and barriers, Celia had to go through a lot to get out of Cuba and come to the United States to become the iconistic figure and movie star she became. She even earned a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Very few Latinos have stars on the Walk of Fame so it's nice to see that Tito Puente and Celia Cruz got them. There was a lot of racism during the 1920s and 30s. Harlem has had a mixture of people. Today you have Black people, Puerto Ricans. There also were Jews, Italians and Irish. One thing my father did was make music for the people. That is why he was liked by everyone from Black to white to Asian. He crossed over but he always kept his roots in Harlem. That is where my father was born, raised and lived most of his life," recalls the young musician. "My father was loved and it made me want to get involved in my father's world. I grabbed his hand and went on the road with him. He did his thing and he encouraged and allowed me to do my thing with him. What better way than to learn from the master. My Dad used to put his finger on his eye and ear and say: "Just watch and listen but keep your mouth shut." And, I learned so much by just doing that. My father had 7 Grammy Awards, 14 nominations, he met 7 presidents. He had 50 years in the business. He started at the age of 12 and went on until the day he died. He had 158 albums. My father has over 1000 different songs the world has never heard. So, I can keep going with all the music my father created the world has yet to hear. My father left me a career and I am so, so grateful to be my father's son."

Single, Tito lives in Miami. During his down time he can be found at a wrestling match, lying on the beach, boating, or fine dining. He encourages those interested in learning more about him to contact his website at www.TitoPuente.com. "My father toured a lot during his career. In fact, he was the first Latino to take his music to Johannesburg, South Africa. I continue to tour with the Orchestra. We were in Beirut, Lebanon while helicopters flew all over the place and gunfire went off. It was scary. Later the orchestra toured Kuwait on a USO tour and I noticed there were a lot of Latinos in the military," noted Tito.

"I ask God to please give me the strength to deal with the things I cannot change. We are in a time in the world now where we are all on edge. We are afraid of our own brothers and sisters sitting next to us on the train. My parents instilled in me to be friendly to everyone and now after the WTC tragedy, I see people are being friendlier toward one another. The world is much smaller than you think. Right now we are on the other side of the river with the whole world against us so we all have to stick together."

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