Quatro: The Definitive Collection

Four discs from Tito Puente’s time with RCA in the 50s, a bonus disc of outtakes and unreleased tracks, digital re-mastering, original cover art, never-before-seen photos and memorabilia: it sounds almost too good to be true. Well, yes and no.

This limited-edition set is certainly beautifully presented and the re-mastering is stunning. I doubt whether you’ll ever hear Puente’s thunderous, super-tight orchestra with such clarity. But as for a definitive collection, my money’s on an earlier Fania label double (reviewed in issue #72). The four landmark albums in question are all products of an era when Tito was wowing them at the Palladium ballroom. Mambo was king and the orchestra’s sound still betrayed the influence of Machito, with whose Afro-Cubans Tito Puente cut his teeth.

Cuban Carnival (1956) and the definitive Dance Mania (1958) reflect a Latin big-band at its jazz-tinged best. Night Beat (1957) and Revolving Bandstand (1960), however, are simply big-band jazz with a tiny hint of Latin. The former is just fine in a cool, slick West Coast type of way. But as for the latter, if it really was El Rey’s idea to saddle his band with trombonist George Morrow for some second-rate Stan Kenton-style big-band jazz, it’s perhaps no wonder that RCA subsequently dropped him from its roster. So what a shame that the four unreleased tracks on the (very meagre) bonus disc all derive from that ill-conceived collaboration. If there really are hundreds of unreleased Tito tracks in the RCA vault, then seven outtakes of ‘Pa’ los Rumberos’ are surely six too many. Nevertheless, much evident love and care has gone into this handsome edition.