Latin legend Tito Puente keeps drumming up irresistible music

Lisa Ferguson

Thursday, Sept. 16, 1999 | 10:03 a.m.

Tito Puente

Who: Tito Puente.

When: 11 p.m. Saturday.

Where: MGM Grand Premier Ballroom.

Tickets: $40, $60.

Information: Call 891-7777.

At least part of the key to Tito Puente's longevity is following a relatively simple formula.

"I do everything moderately now and take my vitamins, of course," the 76-year-old bandleader and percussion great says.

Exercise? Not very often -- not in the traditional sense, anyhow. His high energy performances (as many as 300 a year by some accounts) provide Puente, who takes the stage in the MGM Grand Premier Ballroom Saturday night, all of the aerobic activity he needs. (The spirited concerts are famous for having audience members dancing in the aisles.)

"The music itself, it gives me an incentive and happiness to be able to reach the audience with this kind of music and make them happy," he says. "I've been doing this my whole life and as long as my health holds up I guess I'll be doing that."

So don't look for Puente, a four-time Grammy Award winner, to slow down anytime soon: He recently finished work on his 118th album, "Mambo Birdland," which is scheduled for release soon.

"I'd like to win one more" Grammy, he says. "I'd like to get five. This (album) might do it."

This month Puente has been traveling around the country performing in Mexican Independence Day (celebrated today) festivities. Earlier this week he took the stage in Dallas where there were "mariachis all over the place. I said, 'What am I doing here?' " he said, explaining that his Mexican fan base is large. "I just put on a sombrero, baby, went out there and laid it down."

He was scheduled to perform on Wednesday in ceremonies in Washington, D.C., honoring him and other notables including musician Carlos Santana, who had a hit with his cover of Puente's tune, "Oye Como Va."

"I'm very honored that he did that," Puente says of Santana's rendition of the song. "And he gave me composer's credit (on the album) and I'm happy because every time he plays 'Oye Como Va' I get the royalty check."

And at least a dozen times a year Puente can be found at the New York seafood restaurant that bears his name.

"I am not a restaurateur. I am a musician," he says. But because his name is on the building, he's very protective of the place's image and told those in charge of running it,"I don't want nobody to come to me at the bandstand or on the street and say, 'Tito, we just had dinner in your restaurant. Have you got a Pepto-Bismol?' "

New York-born Puente, the son of Puerto Rican immigrants, has been performing music professionally since his teen years with such Latin music legends as pianist Noro Morales and percussionist Machito.

After serving in World War II he returned from duty and used the G.I. Bill to attend the Julliard School of Music, studying arranging and composing as well as other instruments. In 1947 he formed his own band, the Piccadilly Boys.

He enjoyed great success during the '50s and '60s with his Latin jazz music and earned a reputation as a master of the timbale drums. But he also contributed greatly to other musical styles including mambo, cha cha and swing.

"(On) every album he put out, he would try something different," says Steven Loza, an associate professor of ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles and author of the recently published book, "Tito Puente and the Making of Latin Music" (University of Illinois Press, $26.95).

Loza has known Puente nearly two decades, having brought him to UCLA for concerts and to teach student workshops (Loza consulted with Puente while penning the book).

Throughout Puente's career, "He would either adapt to some of the things that were in vogue or he would experiment" with musical styles, Loza says. "He also worked with a lot of different singers and that gave him variety. ... He always had something different coming up."

That likely played a large part in Puente's success, Loza says. "He's constantly wanting to come up with new ideas and changing whereas a lot of other artists" continue churning out similar music year after year. "He never got old, you know what I mean? And it's reflected in his music."

Puente has performed around the globe and for four United States presidents, as well as during the 1996 Olympic festivities in Atlanta, and has had his image adorn a Puerto Rican postal stamp. Puente played himself in the 1992 flim "The Mambo Kings," which he credits for exposing other cultures to Latin music.

"It's really helped our music a lot. I've been asked to play different countries because of that movie," he says, citing a gig he'll play in China later this year.

While his musical style has been dubbed "salsa" for the past two decades, Puentes is not entirely pleased by the title.

"It's not musical terminology," he reminds. "I tell all the young people, 'You eat (salsa). You don't hear it and you don't see it,' but that's what they call the music. It's a very marketable word and I keep playing my same music. I don't care what the hell they call it. Next year they may call it something else."

All Puente knows is that it's popular. During performances he appeases audiences by saying, " 'I want to play salsa for you.' When I say that word, man, the the whole place comes down. They're so happy to hear the word. ... They say, 'Aren't you the King of Salsa?' I say, 'Well, if you want to call me the King of Salsa, go ahead, but don't call me the queen, that's all.' "

Puente's influence on Latin music has been far-reaching. He says he's known pop's star du jour, Puerto Rican Ricky Martin, since he was a preteen -- long before he was "Livin' La Vida Loca."

"That kind of music he does, I don't move my pelvis that way. My music is a little different," Puente says. "And Jennifer (Lopez), she's a good friend of mine, too."

Over the years Puente has earned dozens of nicknames: "The Mambo King," 'King of the Timbales" and simply "El Rey," meaning "the king."

It's a distinction not lost on Loza. Puente, he says, is "probably the most important musician of Latin music in the United States in the 20th century. I would compare him to Duke Ellington (and) Louis Armstrong in jazz (music). ... He's in that class so (he's had a) pretty big impact, I would say.

"The guy is a musical genius -- he's up in that area, and it happens a few times in every field in every century."

Puente is just pleased that his style of music is receiving worldwide recognition. "I'm glad to be a role model to the young people and (to) be at it, still playing."