Live at the 1977 Monterey Jazz Festival
Tito Puente & His Orchestra
Monterey Jazz Festival Records
Listeners often consider an artist’s recorded catalog to be the defining factor of their career, but in many ways, it presents a limited viewpoint of the artist. Most influential musicians performed thousands of times throughout their careers, and a recorded catalog generally represents a small slice of that picture. Although the professionally recorded material serves as a list of milestones, most artists were captured on tape at various points during those thousands of live performances. These recordings contain varying levels of quality; some reach near professional level, while others are rough sketches of the evening. These uneven results are sometimes frustrating, but each recording gives us another perspective on the artist as performer. When these hidden recordings are released to the public after many years, they should be valued as rare musical treasures. The Monterey Jazz Festival has made a habit of recording the many performances that have occurred during its 50-year history, giving the world a number of musical treasures. The release of Tito Puente and his Orchestra Live at the 1977 Monterey Jazz Festival provides a well-documented look at El Rey performing a combination of his most popular repertoire and some unexpected surprises.

A Powerful Presentation of Popular Songs
Puente connected with the receptive crowd through a group of his most popular songs. Puente and his percussionists start with a slow son montuno and gradually build it into the dramatic introduction of “Para Los Rumberos.” The creative arrangement spins several variations on the well-known themes, including percussive brass hits. The song culminates with an explosive solo from Puente, combining flash and heavy musicality into a crowd-pleasing study in timbale performance. The classic introduction to “Oye Como Va” inspires clapping from the audience, who join the band in singing the famous coro. In addition to the song’s well-known themes, Puente’s band pushes the song forward with constantly changing mambos and moñas. Woodwind player Mauricio Smith improvises on his flute throughout the arrangement, adding a tipico element to the performance. Bassist Nilo Sierra presents the standard tumbao on “Picadillo,” soon joined by pianist Paquito Pastor, the saxes, and the trumpets, until the band builds into a massive sound. As the band quiets to a whisper, vibraphonist Cal Tjader joins the group for a colorful and exploratory solo. After a screaming interlude from the band, Puente takes a turn improvising on the vibes, providing an interesting contrast. These songs showcase some of Puente’s strongest points; he connects with an audience through beloved hits, but his band plays them with the enthusiasm of a first time encounter.

Showing Puente’s Connection With Dance Music
A collection of songs utilizing vocals display Puente’s connection with Salsa and Mambo dance pieces. Smith leads the group into “Pare Cochero” with the standard introduction that segues into the vocal melody. The band builds a ferocious groove, playing around an energetic coro, syncopated horn lines, band breaks, and the unstoppable force of the rhythm section. Smith gets free reign to improvise throughout the song, constantly reinventing traditional ideas and finding complementary spaces in the arrangement. A ringing trumpet solo and thickly harmonized chordal patches move smoothly into Frank Figueroa’s vocal on the bolero “Delirio.” Figueroa displays incredible range, shining with a quiet subtlety and then bursting with a power that matches the band’s focused intensity. A number of wind players get the opportunity to improvise over the song’s rich chord changes, including alto saxophonist Martin Oberlander and Smith, who broth provide soulful statements. Puente revisits his Palladium mambo repertoire with a driving rendition of “Barbarabatiri,” grounded by the rhythmic coro. Figueroa spins a stream of creative pregones that reflect the song’s internal momentum, but unfortunately his vocal resides too low in the live mix. Smith aggressively jumps into an improvisation on bari sax, following by trombonist Richard Pullin who inspires the band with his edgy tone and percussive lines. Puente always kept a defined connection to his dance roots, and these performances show him following that path with class and style.

Including Some Unexpected Gems
Puente could never be categorized as a predictable artist, and he throws a few unexpected gems into his set as well. Puente’s ferocious timbale roll, followed by a free solo, opens “El Rey Del Timbal,” until Puente counts the band into an unbelievable tempo. The rhythm section maintains a heroic intensity throughout the song as the winds add excitement with sharp syncopated hits. Puente improvises with passion, class, and virtuosity throughout the whole piece, demonstrating once again that he deserves his throne. Puente displays his highly refined arranging talents as he seamlessly shapes Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing” into an authentic and jazz-tinged cha cha cha. Oberlander adds a bluesy intensity to his improvisation, followed by a rousing trumpet solo. Smith winds running lines and short percussive attacks into his flute solo, contrasted by Pullen’s rough and rhythmic statement. Drum kit player Mike Collazo starts an up-tempo comparsa rhythm on “Tito’s Odyssey” soon joined by the rest of the percussion and the wind section. A sudden break sends the band into a driving son montuno and a huge band sound that emphasizes a variety of the large ensemble’s sonic possibilities. Puente leaves ample space for his musicians to improvise, building excitement with high-energy solos from Smith, Oberlander, Shikaly, Pullin, and more. This journey into Puente’s immense repertoire reveals an artist with a vast range, which he could demonstrate with professionalism and power.

Giving The Latin Jazz World A True Musical Treasure
Despite Puente’s huge recorded output, the world can always benefit from another quality look at the master in action, as seen on Live at the 1977 Monterey Jazz Festival. The album’s repertoire represents a wide span of Puente’s material at that point in his life, spotlighting the best of his many musical sides. The band’s performance displays the professionalism, excitement, and virtuosity that made Puente a legend. Spots on the album reveal a rough recording, meant more for posterity than commercial release. Uneven balances put solos in the background or bring rhythm section players momentarily into the forefront. Still, there’s a raw beauty to the recording that adds an edge to the sound and captures the band’s enthusiasm and spirit. The historical value of Live at the 1977 Monterey Jazz Festival outweighs the slightly uneven recording and it offers the Latin Jazz world a true musical treasure - a chance to discover an exciting new live recording, full of classy performances from the king of genre.

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Check Out These Related Posts:
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Revisiting Latin Jazz Classics: Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival 1980, The Latin Percussion Jazz Ensemble
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Revisiting Latin Jazz Classics: Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods, Dizzy Gillespie y Machito

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