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Disc 1:

1. El Rey del Timbal
2. Mambo Diablo
3. Ah Ah - Tito Puente, Puente, T.
4. Last Tango in Paris - Tito Puente, Barbieri, Gato
5. Ritual Fire Dance - Tito Puente, De Falla, M.
6. 110th St and 5th Avenue - Tito Puente, Morales, Noro
7. Black Brothers
8. Matacumbe
9. Prepárate Para Bañarte - Tito Puente, Gonzalez, Gerardo
10. Picadillo

Rating: - A hard to find, first rate Puente Recording
I had been looking for this recording for years. I had purchased this back in 1974 on vinyl and wore it out. Since then it didn't seem to be available. Thankfully it is now via these mp3 downloads.

The arrangements are fiery, tight, complex as are the rhythms.

"Mambo Diablo" one of the Puente mainstay tunes is done here with a jazz muscular horn arrangement at medium tempo. It features Tito on vibes and solid soprano sax work. with a solid brass wall on the chorus. If you like Stan Kenton/Maynard Ferguson style arrangements you'll love this one.

"Ah Ah" - is a nice fashioned cha-cha, featuring punctuating brass and coro. It has a good solid groove.

"Last Tango" is a a nice crossover piece featuring a drum set, electric guitar complete with wah-wah pedal, starting the piece and taking off in a quasi-symphonic soundtrack piece. Cinematic and melodramatic like the James Bond pieces. It's fun piece, rather short.

"Ritual Fire" - Dance burns in that Stan Kenton "Cuban Fire" mode. The rhythms shift back and forth to feature an outstanding brass and wind section. Complete with stratospheric brass. The percussion section cooks!

"110th St. And 5th Avenue" - Starts off at a dead run with and features a n amazing piano solo by Chariie Palmieri, followed by a sax and trumpet solo.

"Black Brothers" is a bit dated but was typical of it's time. It's a crossover pieces that is better suited to certain movies of the time. The arrangement is quite good.

"Matacumbe" - A good strong latin jazz piece. You could imagine an Oliver Nelson doing this with a mind toward the earthier "Ramsey Lewis - In Crowd" meets jazz orchestra approach.

"Preparate Para Banarte" - is a good solid salsa piece. Good coro and a charanga feel. Good vocals and it makes you want to get out on the dance floor.

"Picadillo" - is a marimba and orchestra piece that at times conjures "Manteca" or at least quotes it. It cooks!!!! The brass, reeds and rhythm section gets you moving.

I'm glad this finally became available.