Tito Puente’s extensive discography presents several opportunities to admire the improvisations of saxophonist Mario Rivera. His ability to authentically interpret traditional salsa, Latin Jazz, and be-bop made him the perfect featured soloist – wherever Puente went musically, Rivera explored passionately. Puente’s work throughout the 1980s and 1990s with the Concord Picante label especially showcase Rivera well. During this time, Puente for the most part put aside salsa and focused upon jazz. This left generous improvisatory space, which Rivera gladly filled.

Rivera’s tenor sax solo on the song “Mambo Diablo” from the Tito Puente album Mambo Diablo contains a good example of his ability to create a musically inventive statement. The song revolves around one chord, F minor 7, and for the most part, Rivera utilizes an F natural minor scale. He plays 32 measures squeezed between two mambos. The rhythmic basis for the song is an up-tempo son montuno and the rhythm section maintains an aggressive feel throughout Rivera’s solo. His rhythmic knowledge and fluid technique allow him to match the band at every turn, creating a finely tuned musical statement.

Some Points of Interest:
*Rivera’s Creative Use of Passing Tones to Create Tension
Near the end of his solo, Rivera moves outside his scalar approach and includes a variety of passing tones. His solo immediately takes on a different color, full of movement and tension. Check out measures 25 – 27 and the way that Rivera moves from the fifth back down to the root, hitting every chromatic note at some point. Instead falling through a series of chromatic notes though, he ascends and descends chromatically between scale tones. He resolves this new direction with a reference to an F blues scale before returning to the F natural minor scale.

*Rivera’s Combination of Virtuosity and Thematic Development
At a couple of points during his solo, Rivera moves into a sixteenth note flurry, displaying serious instrumental control. In typical Rivera fashion, every creative development relies upon an infallible musical reasoning. Look at measures 20 through 24, where Rivera plays a series of sixteenth notes and sixteenth note triplets. The sixteenth notes connect long rhythmic values that lie on chord tones. The sixteenth note approaches allow Rivera to emphasize the chord tones and different points of the measure. This all leads into a ferocious run that introduces his chromatic variation.

Rivera consistently brought strong musicianship wherever he performed, this solo serves as a great example. Transposed versions are below – enjoy!
Mario Rivera “Mambo Diablo” solo (Bb)
Mario Rivera “Mambo Diablo” solo (Eb)
Mario Rivera “Mambo Diablo” solo (BC)

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