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 Basic Test by Bobby Sanabria, 1990
Postscript by Bobby Sanabria, June 2000
PART 2: PROFESSIONAL PERCUSSIONIST
The East Harlem of the 1930s boasted a varied and vibrant musical environment. While some bands played exclusively Cuban-derived musical forms, others included the musical styles of South American and Swing music in their repertoires. At twelve Tito had already begun performing in local and society bands. Tito credits Montesino, a black Cuban and drummer and timbalero for Los Happy Boys, a local big band, as his earliest influence in Latin drumming. Tito began regularly sitting in with the band at their Sunday matinees at The Park Place Hotel. "Montesino showed me the fundamentals of timbales in the big band contest. Remember, in those days, cowbell hadn't yet been introduced as a standard part of the timbales. That's why everyone played so much Cascara back then."
Tito further expanded his musical voice vocabulary, playing with society bands whose evening programs would include everything - tangos, waltzes, foxtrots, bolero-rhumbas, and polkas. Although only in his early teens, Tito's musical versatility and crack sight-reading ability landed him gigs with the most prominent Latin bands of the day. Tito remembers, "Machito's Orchestra was so good that it could not be denied work accompanying floor shows in the chic downtown clubs like Havana Madrid, La Conga, and Rio Bamba. To do the gigs, you had to be able to sight-read. Tito continued, "Tony Escolies couldn't read music so he had to be replaced, and Uba Nieta became the regular drummer. I subbed for the band and eventually became its steady drummer when Uba was drafted."
Tito also subbed for Pato Vaz in a band headed by the legendary pianist Noro Morales. "I was in my early teens and Noro was playing at El Morocco, he had a band with two trumpets. I came in for Pato and sight-read the book and backed up the show. It was the same situation. We had to be versatile and play a lot of different styles."
While enrolled at Central Commercial High School, Tito maintained a heavy schedule of weekend gigs with Machito, Noro Morales, Jose Curbelo, Ramon Olivero, and Los Happy Boys. Tito remembers, "I would do jobs four to six hours long. The pay was two to three dollars and I would be falling asleep by midnight. The musicians would sometimes tie my feet to the bass drum and hi-hat pedal so that when I woke up I would trip all over myself."
After two years of High School, Tito received his father's permission to leave school. He took a twelve-week engagement in Miami with a sextet led by bassist Tellerina. After returning to New York, Tito began work as a full-time freelance musician. During this period, Tito became interested in the saxophone and the clarinet, and began to study woodwinds. He would later add vibes and marimba to his musical arsenal.
Tito made his earliest recording with Jose Curbelo and Machito, proving to be one of the first drummers in Latin music to use a combination of timbales, bass drum, and cymbal to "kick" big band figures, often without bongo or conga accompaniment. Tito's concept of chart interpretation and "kicking" of figures was most likely influenced by Mario Bauza, Machito's musical director for Chick Webb, whom jazz historians generally acknowledge a the first drummer to "kick" figures in a big band context.
In the early 1940s Tito replaced Uba Nieto, who had been drafted, as the regular drummer for the Machito Orchestra. With Machito, Tito was featured as a soloist, bringing his timbales to the front of the stage, where he played standing up rather than seated, as had been the approved method until this point. In 1942, at nineteen Puente was drafted into the navy. He was assigned to the Santee CVE29, a converted aircraft carrier charged with escorting supply and passenger ships. Tito split his time between loading ammunition into artillery and playing conga and alto saxophone in the ship's big bar. Tito also doubled as the ship's bugler, the mornings, he remembers. "I would play reveille to wake up the crew. One morning I was on the bridge and I started to warm-up by playing general quarters, the single man battle stations. Tito smiles, "Man, the whole ship went crazy, everyone thought we were being attacked. I had to hide for a week; everyone wanted a piece of me."
 During his tour of duty, Tito was befriended by a Lieutenant Sweeney, a tenor sax player and pilot who had a previously performed and served as chief arranger for Charlie Spats Big Band." Sweeney showed me the foundation of writing a good chart, how to lay out voicing and get colors out of brass and reeds. I began writing at this time." While still enlisted in the Navy, Tito mailed an arrangement based on the tune "El Bag de Chapotin" to the Machito Orchestra. The arrangement was well received. Tito was discharged in 1945 - he had seen action in nine battles and received a Presidential Commendation. He began to write arrangements for a number of bandleaders including Pupi Campos and Jose Curbelo and he was freelancing extensively as well as conducting, contracting, arranging and studying the Schillinger System with Richard Bender. Developed by mathematician and theorist Joseph Schillinger, this system was a popular method among jazz musicians, including Stan Kenton, whose writing influenced Tito greatly. "My goal was to continue to study the Schillinger System but I got sidetracked and became a bandleader."Tito Puente circa 1950
Tito completed his formal musical education at the prestigious Julliard School of Music, studying conducting, orchestration, and theory from late 1945 to 1947 under the GI Bill. At the same time, Tito kept up a busy work schedule, drumming at the Copacabana nightclub with a Brazilian band led by a singer Fernando Alvarez and featuring Charlie Palmieri on piano. He also served as musical director and contractor for over forty years. During a break from the Campos Band, Tito formed a pickup band to play occasional gigs. By now he had mastered the vibraharp, an instrument popularized by jazz musicians, which he featured on ballads. During 1947, promoter Federico Pagani began promoting the major Latin orchestras at the Alma Dance Studios on Broadway and 53rd Street. For the first time, Latinos and blacks were coming downtown to listen and dance in the summer of 1948 Pagani offered Puente the regular Sunday afternoon matinee at Alma. The original band which Pagani dubbed "Tito Puente and the Picadilly Boys," Included Jimmy Frisaura on lead Trumpet, Chino Gonzalez on second, Luis Varona on piano, Angel Rosa on vocals, Manuel Paxtot on acoustic bass, Manny Oquendo on bong, Frankie "Paco" Colon on congas, and Tito on timbales, vibes and drum set. From the first matinee performance, Tito Puente would never stop being a bandleader.
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