Top Percussion

In the history of recorded music, there are a few albums that define a genre. Among them are Glenn Gould's 1955 recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations and Miles Davis's hypnotic Kind of Blue. In that select realm, timbalero Tito Puente's 1957 Top Percussion is the most influential Latin jazz recording of all time. Simply put, this date is a once-in-a-lifetime summit meeting of Cuban and Puerto Rican master percussionists of Afro-Cuban music: Mongo Santamaria, Franciso Aguabella, Willie Bobo, and Julito Collazo. Together, these masters explore the endless folkloric inventions and dimensions of Cuba's complex drum music-- from the Afrocentric bembe/Santeria syncopations of "Eleguara" and "Obatala Yeza" to the clave-coded "Mon Ti," "Four by Two," and "Conga Alegre." The "hit" is the cool cha-cha "Ti-Mon-Bo," named for Tito, Mongo, and Bobo. Like their African musical forefathers, Tito Puente and his compatriots have delivered an ancestral drum message that has danced and entranced musicians and listeners for years. --Eugene Holley Jr.