Tito Puente's Drumming With the Mambo King [Paperback]

Tito Puente (Composer), Jim Payne (Composer)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 13, 2000

The late, great Tito Puente was a giant in the world of Latin music. This exceptional new book/CD pack, co-written with Jim Payne, includes an extensive biography, a history of Afro-Cuban music, archival photos, step-by-step instruction in Afro-Cuban music for timbales and drumset, and transcriptions of three of Tito's most famous timbale solos. This great pack also includes a 75-minute CD containing twelve of Tito's classic recordings. These are original tracks (mambos, cha chas and timbale solos that have made him famous) coordinated with authentic percussion charts, instructional examples, new solos and words of advice from the Mambo King.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Almost two years in the making, this project was developed with very close involvement from Tito. We were very saddened by Tito's sudden passing and we feel very honored to have had the privilege of working so closely with a truly legendary musician.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Hudson Music (November 13, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0634019562
• ISBN-13: 978-0634019562
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,314,600 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"GIVE THE DRUMMERS SOME!" NOW REISSUED AS "THE GREAT DRUMMERS OF R&B, FUNK & SOUL." !!

"GIVE THE DRUMMERS SOME!" HAS BEEN OUT OF PRINT AND HAS NOW BEEN REISSUED UNDER A NEW TITLE: "THE GREAT DRUMMERS OF R&B, FUNK & SOUL." THE CONTENT IS EXACTLY THE SAME!! -

"That book is brilliant...I have a tremendous amount of respect for Jim." - Stanton Moore, Modern Drummer Magazine, March 2010
----------------------
Jim is teaching in NYC. CONTACT him at WWW.FUNKYDRUMMER.COM
----------------------

Labeled the "Buddy Rich or Billy Cobham of funk drumming" by Jazz Times Magazine, Jim Payne has had a long career as a performer, educator, producer and collaborator with the best in jazz and funk.
He has performed with the J. B. Horns, Maceo Parker, Michael Brecker and
the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra.

He taught at Drummers Collective for 10 years and now teaches privately at Drummers World in NYC.

He can be contacted at: http://www.funkydrummer.com/

He has 8 biographical and instruction books, CDs & DVDs to his credit including:

The Great Drummers Of R&B,Funk & Soul (formerly Give The Drummers Some! )
100 Famous Funk Beats
Advanced Funk Drumming
Funk Drumming
The Complete Book Of Funk Drumming
Tito Puente - King Of Latin Music
Tito Puente -Drumming With The Mambo King (co-written with Tito Puente)
How To Play Drums From Day One

He has also produced records for Medeski Martin & Wood (It's A Jungle In Here and Friday Afternoon In The Universe), The J.B. Horns (The J.B. Horns: Pee Wee, Fred & Maceo, and Funky Good Time, Live In Tokyo) and is a regular contributer to Modern Drummer Magazine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tito Puente left us his music and now his technique, January 3, 2001

By 

Sam Rodriguez (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tito Puente's Drumming With the Mambo King (Paperback)

Tito Puente's Drumming with The Mambo King By Jim Payne & Tito Puente. Just as Latin music is just beginning to be felt in the mainstream landscape of music consumers, dancers, students, and aspiring musicians. Tito Puente left us library of music productions, some videos, scholarships, and now a new book/audio package that pulls together the multiple elements of Latin music tempos. This book is more like a dream come true. I remember going to music stores so many times looking for books on Latin music, and guest what; NADA! All that has changed, almost two years in the making, this project was developed with very close involvement from Tito. This book is a must-have for anyone interested in Latin music and its history. Additionally it gives a technical understanding of the rudiments of Latin percussion for the student and layman alike, in Tito's own voice (replete with New York City accent). Each Latin rhythm explained in the book and demonstrated on the CD is followed by a Tito classic which exemplifies the rhythm he is teaching. It is an incredible archive just to have a Tito Puente CD with many of his hits, but this one has the King's voice explaining his rhythms.  And, as always was so important to Tito, one of his last legacies was to provide us with an amazing educational tool that combines musical technique, arrangements and history, --the one lived by the King TITO PUENTE (TP).

I can't say enough about the book specially when I see a picture of Arserio Rodriguez and another one of Tito Puente as a Sax-Alto player in the Navy. Then as I scroll through Chapter One the following quote reinforces everything I have been saying about clave in my writings "Every instrument has to abide by the Clave. Stay on the Clave and you'll make it." - TP. Chapter two starts with this quote, "You can even dance to the Timbales without anything else. That's how important they are in the rhythm section. The Timbale player keeps the band together with the Clave." - TP. Clave is so important both for the musician and dancer. Without Clave there's nothing regardless of how many solos or shines one can memorize. This book has thorough explanations and exercises both in writing and audio in the form of the included CD.

If all musicians and dancers could digest this basic concept more people would switch to Latin music as the number one choice of musical entertainment; this book explains it very well.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a little "SALSA!" from the Mambo King!, January 1, 2004

By 

D. Kolton (The Great Northwest) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tito Puente's Drumming With the Mambo King (Paperback)

Written as a three part compendium of knowledge, this volume starts with the history of Tito Puente, moves on to the history of Afro-Cuban music, and wraps it up with too-numerous-to-count examples of timbales rythms, clave & bell parts and more. The accompanying CD has over 50 tracks playing not only the examples of the book, but actual songs from the career of Tito -- some from groundbreaking albums like Puente in Percussion (all percussion band w/bass ala. avante garde Birth of the Cool in jazz), and the original and now world-known "Oye Coma Va" written by Tito & recorded well before Sanata. An extremely well put together package for the player or listener alike as well as the Afro-Cuban music historian and Tito afficionado. Sounds like a strage mix, but this has it all! You won;t be disappointed!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on playing Timbales, September 17, 2005

By 

CubanMusicLover (Miami) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tito Puente's Drumming With the Mambo King (Paperback)

This book along with "The Art of Playing Timbales" by Victor Rendon are the 2 best books a beginner will find on playing the Timbales for Latin music. It covers from the very basics(clave's relationship to the rhythms) to soloing. There are 3 transcribed Tito solos that are worth learning once you've mastered the basics. The biggest problem I've had with the book is the binding. It's very poorly bound and it's falling apart. I do use it a lot as I'm a beginner, but the pages should have been bound a lot better. Other than the poor quality of the binding, the content and CD are very, very good. So I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to master playing Latin music with Timbales. Of course, you should also listen to a lot of recordings. Training the ear is very important for improvisation on the Timbales.