Mambo Caravan

Frank Grillo (born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo; December 3, 1909 – April 15, 1984) known professionally as Machito (previously as Macho), was a Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and played a key role in the creation of both Cubop and salsa music. He was raised in Havana with his foster sister, the singer Graciela.

In New York City, Machito formed the Afro-Cubans in 1940, and with Mario Bauzá as musical director, brought together Cuban rhythms and big band arrangements in one group. He made numerous recordings from the 1940s to the 1980s, many with Graciela as singer. Machito changed to a smaller ensemble format in 1975, touring Europe extensively. He brought his son and daughter into the band, and received a Grammy Award in 1983, one year before he died.

Machito's music had an effect on the careers of many musicians who played in the Afro-Cubans over the years, and on those who were attracted to Latin jazz after hearing him. George Shearing, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Cab Calloway and Stan Kenton credited Machito as an influence. An intersection in East Harlem is named "Machito Square" in his honor.

== Early life ==

Machito gave conflicting accounts of his birth. He sometimes said he was a native Cuban from Havana. Other accounts place his birth in Tampa, Florida, making him an American of Cuban ancestry. He may have been born in 1908 in the Jesús María district of Havana or in Tampa, 1909 in the Marianao Beach district of Havana or in Tampa, 1912 in Tampa or Havana, or even 1915 in Havana.

Regardless of his place of birth, Machito was fostered from an early age in the Jesús María district of Havana, where Graciela was born on August 23, 1915. Her parents raised both of them. Young Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, the biological son of a cigar manufacturer, was nicknamed "Macho" as a child because he was the first son born to his parents after they had three daughters. In his teens and twenties in Cuba, "Macho" became a professional musician, playing in several ensembles from 1928 to 1937.

== Career ==

Macho moved to New York City in 1937 as a vocalist with Las Estrellas Habaneras (Havana Stars). He worked with several Latin artists and orchestras in the late 1930s, recording with Conjunto Moderno, Cuarteto Caney, Orchestra Siboney, and the bandleader Xavier Cugat. After an earlier attempt to launch a band with Mario Bauzá, in 1940 he founded the Afro-Cubans, and conducted their first rehearsal on December 3 at the Park Palace Ballroom located at W. 110th Street in Harlem. A big band-style brass section with trumpets and saxes was backed by a trap drum, piano, bass and a Cuban bongo. Several weeks later, in early January 1941, Machito took on Mario Bauzá as musical director; a role he retained for 34 years. As an instrumentalist, Bauza played trumpet and alto saxophone.

The band had an early hit with "Sopa de Pichon" in 1941. Its title is slang for "pigeon soup", a Puerto Rican joke about nearly starving as an immigrant in New York.

Machito and the Afro-Cubans, were among the first to fuse Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz improvisation and arrangements for a big band. Machito was the front man and maraca player of the Afro Cubans, while Bauza determined the character of the band as musical director. Bauza, Machito's brother-in-law from his marriage to Machito's sister Estela, hired jazz-oriented arrangers and musicians to replace the band's founding member and original arranger, José "Pin" Madera, who had been drafted into the U.S. Military and served in World War II.

As a result, Machito's music greatly inspired such United States jazz musicians as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Stan Kenton. One of the items in the Kenton orchestra's repertoire was an idiomatic Afro-Cuban number known as "Machito", composed by Stan Kenton with Pete Rugolo and released as a Capitol 78 in 1947.

In April 1943 during World War II, Machito was drafted into the United States Army. After a few months of training, he suffered a leg injury and was discharged in October. Earlier, anticipating a long absence of the band's leader, Bauza had sent for Machito's younger foster sister Graciela, who traveled to New York from Havana where she had been touring with El Trio Garcia, and singing lead with the all-female Orquesta Anacaona. Graciela served as the lead singer of the Afro-Cubans for a year before Machito returned to front the band. Graciela stayed on—at performances, the two singers alternated solo songs and created duets such as "Si Si No No" and "La Paella". Adding to the percussion, Graciela played claves alongside Machito's maracas.

Beginning in 1947, teenager Willie Bobo helped move the band's gear to gigs in Upper Manhattan, just so he could watch them play. Near the end of the evening, if there were no musician's union leaders in sight (he was underage), he borrowed bongos from José Mangual and played with the band. Later, Machito helped him get positions in other Latin bands. Many years later, George Shearing pointed to Machito and Willie Bobo as two musicians who helped him learn "what Latin music was about".

Machito accepted a recording date with Stan Kenton in December 1947, playing maracas on the tune "The Peanut Vendor", which was a hit for Kenton. Other members of the Afro-Cubans at the date were Carlos Vidal on congas and José Mangual on timbales. The next month, the bands of both Kenton and Machito shared the stage at The Town Hall, New York setting off a surging interest in Cubop. Machito named that style of music when he recorded an arrangement of Bauza's "Tanga" with the new title "Cubop City" in 1948. Machito was sought after by record producers, and in his live shows he featured soloists Howard McGhee on trumpet and Brew Moore on tenor sax. Late in 1948, he took to the studio with Charlie Parker, and Flip Phillips on tenor sax. Machito's star was ascendant, and he played Carnegie Hall on February 11, 1949, on a bill including Duke Ellington, Lester Young, Bud Powell and Coleman Hawkins. An album derived from 78 sides recorded in 1948 and 1949 was issued: Mucho Macho. For these recordings, the 14-piece band had three trumpeters (including Bauzá), four saxophonists, piano player René Hernández, a bass player, and three percussionists playing bongos, congas and timbales, augmented by Graciela on claves and Machito himself on maracas. A subsequent release was Tremendo Cumbán featuring arrangements by pianist Hernández and vocal additions from the Rigual Brothers. This recording includes Mitch Miller playing oboe on one tune, "Oboe Mambo".

Each summer from the mid-1940s to the late 1960s, a period of 22 years, Machito and his band played a ten-week engagement at the Concord Resort Hotel in the Catskills. Machito's album Vacation at the Concord was issued in 1958 as a representative experience of an evening's performance, but it was not recorded at the resort. Five-year-old Mario Grillo learned to play the timbales during the 1961 summer series, with lessons from Ubaldo Nieto, then returned to New York with his father's band and played his first gig, taking a single timbales solo at the Palladium Ballroom while standing on a chair next to Tito Puente.

In 1957, Machito recorded the album Kenya, with mostly original songs by A.K. Salim, or Hernández collaborating with Bauzá. The only cover tune was "Tin Tin Deo" by Luciano "Chano" Pozo. Guest musicians include Doc Cheatham and Joe Newman on trumpet, Cannonball Adderley on alto sax, and Eddie Bert on trombone. Band regular and arranger band Ray Santos played tenor sax on the album as well. A seven-man percussion section (including Cándido Camero and Carlos "Patato" Valdés) rounds it out. The album has shown significant longevity: a half century after its release it was named by Robert Dimery in his book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

=== Smaller format ===

In 1975, Machito's son Mario Grillo, known as "Machito Jr", joined the band for its recording with Dizzy Gillespie, Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods; the album, featuring arrangements by Chico O'Farrill, was nominated for a Grammy Award. Later in 1975, Machito determined that he would accept an invitation to tour Europe with a smaller eight-piece ensemble. Bauzá quit; he had grave doubts that such an enterprise would work musically. Graciela left as well. The tour and the smaller band proved very successful; the start of perennial tours of Europe. (Bauzá admitted, years later, that he had acted too hastily.) Mario Grillo took over the duties of musical director in 1977. That year, the band earned another Grammy nomination for Fireworks—a change of tone signaled by the appearance of Lalo Rodríguez as co-lead singer and composer of three tunes. Further European tours were undertaken using the band name "Machito and his Salsa Big Band", and Machito's daughter Paula Grillo carried female lead vocals, stepping into Graciela's shoes. When the band appeared in London in February 1982, they accepted long-term engagements, making London their "home base".

At Avery Fisher Hall in 1978, Machito and his band played for the New York portion of the Newport Jazz Festival. Dizzy Gillespie soloed with the band. Following his set, Machito and Tito Puente both brought their bands to the stage. The two bands played the song "Mamba Adonis" for 15 minutes, a tune that was later renamed "Machito Forever" by Puente. Subsequently, Machito's band and Gillespie finished the set with the tune "Manteca", an arrangement from 1948.

In 1983, Machito won a Grammy Award in the Best Latin Recording category for Machito & His Salsa Big Band '82. The recording was made in the Netherlands in about four hours, mostly one take per tune.

== Personal life ==

Machito was somewhat short in stature, at 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) in height. A lifelong Roman Catholic, he married Puerto Rican Hilda Torres on January 17, 1940, at which time he changed his nickname from "Macho" to "Machito". The cross-national marriage served as a sign to New York Latinos that it was possible to attain a sense of pan-Latino brotherhood. Frank and Hilda Grillo produced five children: Martha (1941), Frank Jr (1943), Barbara (1948), Mario (1956) and Paula. The family lived in Spanish Harlem at 112th Street and Second Avenue, where Machito enjoyed cooking for his children, writing the occasional song such as "Sopa de Pichón" while working in the kitchen.

Machito suffered a stroke before a concert in London, England in 1984, collapsing while waiting to go on stage at Ronnie Scott's club. He died four days later on April 19, 1984, at University College Hospital in London. His son Mario carried forward the legacy by leading the Machito Orchestra after his father's death. His daughter Paula, though dedicating her life to scholarly studies, has occasionally fronted the group as its singer.

Mario Bauzá died in 1993. Hilda Grillo, a patron of Latin music after her husband's death, died in July 1997. Having never married, Graciela died in April 2010 at the age of 94.

== Legacy ==

In 1985, New York mayor Ed Koch named the intersection of East 111th Street and Third Avenue "Machito Square", a location in Spanish Harlem which is one block from East 110th Street, renamed "Tito Puente Way" after the 2000 death of Tito Puente. Machito lived as a young adult in an apartment on the southwest corner of the intersection.

A documentary film by Isabelle Leymarie and Carlos Ortiz (Leymarie’s name was unduly left out of the credits by Ortiz), Machito: A Latin Jazz Legacy, was released in 1987, showing an elderly Machito and his wife in their Bronx apartment, as well as archival footage from performances in the 1940s and afterward.

== Selected discography ==

=== As leader ===

Mucho Macho Machito (Clef, 1948–1949; Pablo, 1978) 2-LP compilation

Kenya (Roulette, 1957)

Vacation at the Concord (Verve, 1958)

Machito with Flute to Boot (Roulette, 1959)

Machito at the Crescendo (GNP Crescendo, 1961)

Soul Source (VSP, 1966)

Fireworks with Lalo Rodriguez (Coco Records, 1977)

Machito and his Salsa Big Band 1982 (Timeless, 1983)

Live at North Sea '82 (Timeless, 1983)

Machito!!! (Timeless, 1983)

=== As sideman ===

Miguelito Valdés, Bim Bam Boom – An Album of Cuban Rhythms (Decca, 1946; Decca [10"], 1949)

Miguelito Valdés, Afro-Cuban Music (Decca, 1947; Decca [10"], 1951)

Charlie Parker, South of the Border (Mercury/Clef/Verve, 1948 and 1951–1952)

Miguelito Valdés, Cuban Nights (Decca, 1958)

Miguelito Valdés, Reunion (Tico, 1963)

Miguelito Valdés, Los Reyes Del Ritmo (The Kings Of Rhythm) (Decca, 1964)

Dizzy Gillespie, Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods (Pablo, 1975)

== See also ==

List of jazz arrangers

== References ==

== Bibliography ==

Austerlitz, Paul and Jere Laukkanen (2016). Machito and His Afro-Cubans: Selected Transcriptions. Middleton, WI: A & R Edition. ISBN 9780895798282.

Leymarie, Isabelle (2002). Cuban Fire: The Story of Salsa and Latin Jazz. New York: Continuum. ISBN 978-0826455864.

== External links ==

Machito discography at Discogs

Music of Machito and his Afro-Cubans at the Library of Congress

Source: Wikipedia ↗

Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, vibraphonist and record producer. He composed dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz music. He was also known as "El Rey de los Timbales," or "The King of the Timbales."

Puente and his music have appeared in films including The Mambo Kings and Fernando Trueba's Calle 54. He guest-starred on television shows, including Sesame Street and The Simpsons episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns?".

== Early life ==

Puente was born on April 20, 1923, at Harlem Hospital Center in the New York borough of Manhattan, the son of Ernesto and Felicia Puente, Puerto Ricans living in New York City's Spanish Harlem. His family moved frequently, but he spent the majority of his childhood in Spanish Harlem. Puente's father was the foreman at a razor blade factory. His family called him Ernestito (Spanish diminutive for 'Ernest'), which became shortened to "Tito".

Puente was first introduced to music through the radio. Described as a hyperactive child, neighbors complained hearing seven-year-old Puente beating on pots and window frames, so his mother sent him to 25-cent piano lessons. He switched to percussion by the age of 10, drawing influence from jazz drummer Gene Krupa. He later created a song-and-dance duo with his sister Anna in the 1930s and intended to become a dancer, but an ankle tendon injury prevented him from pursuing dance as a career. Puente also learned from the trios and bambas that played at Plaza San Jose in old San Juan. He heard mambo (now called salsa) music and was influenced by its Afro-Cuban roots. By 13, Puente was considered a prodigy. When he was 16, he played with Ramon Oliver's band. When the drummer in Machito's band was drafted to the army, Puente subsequently took his place.

== Career ==

=== Styles and Influences ===

Puente had distinct Asian influences in his composition and arranging style, all of which came after his service during World War II. After finishing his time in the Navy, Puente attended the Juilliard School of Music to study conducting and orchestration. His conducting teacher was Japanese, further influencing the Asian elements in his compositions. Throughout the rest of his career, Puente traveled to Japan many times while on tour. He said that if it was not for war, he would have never been exposed to their music and culture. "Even in war, [the power of] music, art, dancing, food… always eventually wins."Puente's introduction to music was jazz drumming with an African American show drummer he remembers as Mr. Williams. During this time, he also learned acrobatic tap and ballroom dancing. Puente introduced new techniques to some percussion instruments that would help redefine how they were used in music. For example, while learning vibraphone and marimba, he introduced piano techniques. He also applied his jazz training to timbales, which was unlike anything that had been done before. This helped redefine the timbales as a solo instrument.

=== Time in the Navy ===

Puente served in the Navy for three years during World War II after being drafted in 1942. He was discharged with a Presidential Unit Citation for serving in nine battles on the escort aircraft carrier USS Santee (CVE-29) where his duties included playing alto saxophone and clarinet in the ship's big band as well as occasionally drum set, piano during mess hall, acting as the ship's bugler, and serving as a machine gunner in the battles of Leyte and Midway. The G.I. Bill allowed him to study music at Juilliard School of Music, where he completed his formal education in conducting, orchestration, and theory after three years. Puente described his time in the Navy as, "What you normally study in a four-year music conservatory, but in three months… And it was all done with military discipline… it was intense."

Puente was the ship's bugler. Whenever warming up he would play general quarters. One day he forgot to turn off the microphone, leading everyone to believe there was an attack. He hid below deck for a few days due to the anger from crew members for the false alarm. Puente said his worst time in the Navy was every time he had to play taps for someone who was killed.

While aboard the Santee, Puente expanded his compositional skills by learning how to arrange for big bands given the extra time he had. He was coached by Lieutenant Sweeney who he came to be friends with. Sweeney referred to Puente as "Lil' Ernie" because of his height. The first chart Puente arranged was 'El Botellero' which he sent to Machito and Mario Bauza in New York City.

=== Post-Navy ===

Puente was offered a delayed return to the ship so he could go to different parts of the Orient (LINK). He was given several months to stop in each port city to learn about music, food, and customs. During this time he learned a lot about Asian music, experienced the culture, and learned how they apply music theory in their compositions. He learned that they use chord voicings in fourths, wrote melodies based on scales, and more. This influenced pieces such as "Hong Kong Mambo," "Mambo Buddha," and "Picadillo." After finishing his time in the Navy, Puente attended the Juilliard School of Music to study orchestration and conducting.

Bands wanted Puente playing up front rather than in the back like most big bands. Not only did he play in a unique and revolutionary way, he also put on a show for the audiences. Sometimes he was the show. Puente was also a popular arranger given his background and the influence of past mentors. By 1948, Puente started his own group.

During the 1950s, Puente was at the height of his popularity and helped to bring Cuban and Caribbean sounds like mambo, son, and cha-cha-chá, to mainstream audiences. His album Dance Mania was released in 1958.

Among his compositions is the cha-cha-chá song "Oye Cómo Va" (1963), popularized by Latin rock musician Carlos Santana and later interpreted, among others, by Julio Iglesias, Irakere and Celia Cruz. In 1969, he received the key to the City of New York from former Mayor John Lindsay. In 1992, he was inducted into the National Congressional Record and in 1993, he received the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian Institution.

=== The Palladium Era ===

Puente is one of the subjects of La Época – The Palladium Era, a documentary about the Palladium era in New York, Cuban music and rhythms, mambo and salsa as dances and music and much more. The documentary discusses many of Puente's, as well as Arsenio Rodríguez's, contributions and features interviews with some of the musicians Puente recorded with.

Beginning in the 1950s, Americans fell in love with mambo. In New York City, the Palladium Ballroom was the "Home of the Mambo." It had been converted from the Alma Dance Studio into a nightclub by Tommy Morton in 1946.

Machito, who was popular and sold lots of records, was hired along with musicians to play all kinds of music for the dancers. Machito sought to bring in black and Latino consumers from Harlem that normally frequented the Savoy or Park Place Ballroom. Machito and Morton hired Federico Pagani, leader of the Happy Boys, to promote Latino dance.

Their next step was starting a Sunday promotion called the Blen Blen Club, and they gave away discount cards at both subway stations and bus stops. By the first Sunday, there was a mob waiting in line at four o'clock in the afternoon. On this night six bands were hired with Noro Morales and Jose Curbelo headlining. These bands brought in Latino, Black, and White people. This launched the Palladium era.

Afro-Cubans were the first band to go to the Palladium and bring uptown beats and dancing to Broadway. This was the first venue where the children of immigrants came to dance to music that was not what their parents listened to. On Broadway and 7th, 53rd and 54th street had to be closed down because of the long lines around the block. Wednesday's and Friday-Sunday's were dedicated to the mecca of Latin music. Given that this was post-World War II, people were happily spending money given the economic boom and the desire to have a good time.

The Palladium needed multiple bands to keep the Blen Blen Club going since Machito was not always available. Pagani knew Puente from the Happy Boys and heard an "arousing" tune Puente was working on that "made [his] blood turn cold." Machito hired Puente to play on Sundays and had him put together a group called the Picadilly Boys.

People also enjoyed seeing the rivalry between Machito, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodriguez. Puente and Rodriguez constantly wanted to outdo each other and individually improved to increase the competition.

The Palladium was the home of the mambo until it closed in 1966.

== Personal life and death ==

Puente's oldest son Ron Puente is from a first marriage to Mirta Sanchez. Richard "Richie" Puente was the percussionist in the 1970s and 1980 funk band Foxy. Puente's youngest son, Tito Puente Jr., has performed and recorded many of Puente's songs. His daughter Audrey Puente is a television meteorologist for WNYW and WWOR-TV in New York City.

Puente was greatly appreciated when he performed in 1999 in Trinidad at the World Beat Concert, alongside notables such as South African Hugh Masakela and Senegalese Baba Maal.

After a show in Puerto Rico on May 31, 2000, Puente suffered a massive heart attack and was flown to New York City for surgery to repair a heart valve, but complications developed, and he died later that night. He was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. After he died, Puente's local community in New York City celebrated him. He was well known within his community because of his involvement. He would go up to people who were jamming and playing street music (music everyday people listened and danced to). He called himself a street musician.

== Awards and recognition ==

In 1995, Puente received the Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award.

On September 10, 2007, a United States Post Office in Spanish Harlem was named after him at a ceremony presided over by House Ways and Means Committee Chair Charles Rangel and Rep. José Serrano.

An amphitheater was named after him at Luis Muñoz Marín Park, next to the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In 1995, Puente was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.

Puente performed at the closing ceremonies at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. The timbales he used are displayed at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

In 1997, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

In 1990, he received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 1984, he received an honorary Decree from the Los Angeles City Council.

On June 5, 2005, Puente was honored by Union City, New Jersey with a star on the Walk of Fame at Union City's Celia Cruz Park.

In 1999, he was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame.

On May 19, 1999, he received an honorary Mus.D degree from Columbia University.

On August 20, 2000, East 110th Street in Spanish Harlem was named 'Tito Puente Way.' Whenever anyone asked where Puente came from, he always said 110th street.

In 2011, the US Postal Service issued a commemorative postage stamp in his likeness as part of their Latin Legends series.

On October 11, 2022, Puente was honored with a Google Doodle in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.

In 2025, Puente was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame.

== Discography ==

=== As leader ===

=== As sideman ===

With Dizzy Gillespie

Rhythmstick (1990)

With Benny Golson

Remembering Clifford (Milestone, 1998)

With Quincy Jones

Quincy Plays for Pussycats (Mercury, 1959–65 [1965])

With Hilton Ruiz

Rhythm in the House (RMM, 1976 [1998])

With Sonny Stitt

The Matadors Meet the Bull (Roulette, 1965)

With Bobby Sanabria

¡NYC Aché! (Flying Fish Records, 1993)

== Filmography ==

=== Selected feature films ===

Armed and Dangerous (1986) as Band Leader

Radio Days (1987) as Latin Bandleader

The Mambo Kings (1992) as Himself

=== Documentaries ===

Tito Puente: The King of Latin Music (2000)

Profiles Featuring Tito Puente Jr. (2007)

Latin Knights (2005)

Calle 54 (2000)

=== Concert films ===

Tito Puente – Live in Montreal (Montreal Jazz Festival) (1983) (2003)

Tito Puente – Palladium Days (Newport Jazz Festival) (1997)

Tito Puente - The Mambo King - 100th LP Live [DVD] (1997)

=== The Simpsons ===

Puente appeared in the two-part whodunit drama "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" in the sixth season finale and seventh season premiere of American comedy cartoon show The Simpsons in 1995. In the shows, Puente joins Springfield Elementary School as a music teacher after the school discovers it is located over an oil well. However, Mr. Burns manages to pump the oil first, which makes him the legal owner of the well. This causes the school to fall into debt with budget cuts to the music and maintenance departments, causing Puente to lose his job. When Burns is later shot, Puente becomes one of the prime suspects but manages to clear himself by performing one of his songs for Chief Wiggum. Seven alternative endings were filmed of various characters shooting Burns; Puente is one of the alternates. Although all endings were animated, the ending of Maggie Simpson shooting Burns was the ending chosen to air.

The Emmy-nominated song "Señor Burns" from the episode is featured on both the 1997 album Songs in the Key of Springfield and the 1999 album Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons.

== See also ==

List of people from Harlem

== References ==

== Further reading ==

Steven Loza (1999) Tito Puente and the Making of Latin Music, University of Illinois Press

Josephine Powell (2007) "Tito Puente: When The Drums Are Dreaming", (Authorhouse 2007)

== External links ==

Tito Puente at NPR Music

Tito Puente discography at Discogs

Tito Puente at IMDb

Tito Puente at Find a Grave

Tito Puente Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection (1997)

Source: Wikipedia ↗

José Estevez Jr. (March 26, 1921 – March 7, 1988), professionally known as Joe Loco, was a Latin jazz and Latin pop pianist and arranger of Puerto Rican ancestry who was born in New York City.

== Life ==

Loco, maybe born José Estevez Jr. but officially known as Joseph Esteves, first played with an ensemble called Montecino's Happy Boys in 1938. In the early 1940s, he served as Machito's pianist before joining the Air Force from 1945 to 1947. He then freelanced with many of the top Latin ensembles of the time well into the 1950s, working with Polito Galíndez, Marcelino Guerra, Pupi Campo, and Julio Andino. He scored a hit of his own in 1952 with the tune "Tenderly". Loco also did Latin arrangements of pop standards, and performed them with a quintet in many jazz venues that did not typically showcase Latin music.

== Discography ==

El Baión (Tico, 1954)

Loco Motion (Columbia 760, 1955)

¡Vaya! With Joe Loco (Columbia 827, 1956)

Joe Loco in the Philippines (Villar, 1961)

== See also ==

List of Puerto Ricans

== References ==

Footnotes

General references

Joe Loco at Allmusic

Source: Wikipedia ↗