El Rey de los Timbales es Muerto

Quick show of hands: how many Monkeyfist.com readers were introduced to Latin music by Carlos Santana? If you said yes, then you really owe your enlightenment to Tito Puente.

Tito was the King of the Timbales. I once saw him perform at Atlanta's Music Midtown festival. he introduced his hit Oye Como Va thusly:

Now we'd like to play the Santana song Oye Como Va. Well, it's really my song, I played with him on his album. It used to bother me when people would come to my concerts and say "play the Santana song!" I'd say, "no, it's my song!" Then the royalty checks started coming in... so now we're going to play the Santana song!

Tito died in New York of complications during heart surgery. He was 77. He will be sorely missed.