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Thankfully it’s not always necessary to resort to this vast gray market to find great music that fell out of print decades ago. In 2008 legitimate record labels continued to churn out killer reissues–so many, in fact, that I was often tempted to simply let myself recede into the past, basking in vintage sounds as fresh and vital as anything made today.
Puente, a New York native, first made a splash in the early 40s, as the timbale player in Machito’s big band–his flair for the dramatic inspired his boss to move him to the front of the stage, a position that soon became standard for all timbaleros. After returning from the war and forming his own band, Puente put out a ridiculous number of records. The four Fania double-CD collections will include all 156 tracks he cut for 78 RPM release between 1949 and 1955 in New York City–ground zero of the mambo craze he helped fuel, where nightclubs like the Palladium drew the hip and beautiful with a steady diet of Afro-Caribbean sounds.
