The Essential Tito Puente

Disc 1
1	Ran Kan Kan 2:59
2	Swinging the Mambo 3:15
3	Four Beat Cha Cha, Pt. 1 2:29
4	Cuando Te Vea 4:16
5	Tito Guajira 2:39
6	Mambo Gozon 2:47
7	Night Hawk 2:32
8	Witch Doctor's Nightmare 2:38
9	Abaniquito 2:49
10	Picadillo 2:44
11	Mambo Beat 4:11
12	Cao Cao Mani Picao 3:01
13	Birdland After Dark 4:38
14	Obatala Yeza 3:22
15	Chanchullo 2:32
16	Pa' los Rumberos 3:24
17	Hong Kong Mambo Alternate Take 3:49
18	What Is This Thing Called Love? 3:24
19	Complicacion 3:22
20	Tito Timbero 3:01
Disc 2
1	Oye Como Va 4:31
2	Cuál Es la Idea 3:21
3	El Cayuco 2:37
4	Son de la Loma 2:07
5	3-D Mambo 2:25
6	Cuban Nightmare 3:04
7	Oye Mi Guaguancó (Listen to the Guaguancó) 3:35
8	Take the "A" Train 2:07
9	Elegua Chango 5:14
10	Si Te Contara 2:52
11	Cha-con-Cha 3:04
12	Dance Mania 3:14
13	Sácala 2:23
14	Ti Mon Bo 6:33
15	Yambeque 3:46
16	Lotus Land 4:54
17	Malibu Beat 2:30
18	Al Gozar Timbero 3:05
19	Havana After Dark 2:52
20	Mambo Buda 2:51

Barnes & Noble

Now, that’s more like it. Less than a year prior to this double-disc release, Sony International put out a single-CD comp of vintage Tito Puente, dubbed Lo Esencial in Spanish, which means “The Essential” in English. It was less than that, in either language -- missing, for example, “Oye Como Va.” Partly, Puente’s vast catalog is to blame; even two six-disc box sets, released after the mambo king’s death, failed to crystallize the import of his five-decade career. The Essential, at least, is no insult. Two discs of 40 tracks capture his most significant mambo-era material, clocking out around 1961’s Dance Mania, Vol. 2. (For the rest of the story, including T.P.’s reign with the vocalists La Lupe and Celia Cruz, tune in to The Rough Guide to Tito Puente.) In fact, the tracks seem to have been remastered from the box set -- the bass is punchy and Puente’s intricate arrangements are excitingly audible. Salsa fans can be shockingly ignorant of the big-band sound that birthed today’s pop-oriented style. The Essential provides a potent introduction to the mambo maestro. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

An essential collection for most artists would consist of 12 or perhaps even 20 songs. For the man described as "El Rey", however, a man who recorded over 100 LPs during a career that touched seven decades, the parameters need to be widened significantly. And so comes this two-disc, 40-track collection from RCA/Legacy, focusing on Puente's prime of the mid-'50s but dipping into 1949 material to survey the beginning of his career and also selecting a lone track from the '60s -- "Oye Como Va," his most familiar performance (thanks, in part, to Santana's hit cover). Aside from the breathtaking pair of Complete RCA Recordings boxes, The Essential Tito Puente is the best place to acquire a raft of Puente's best and most famous recordings -- "Ran Kan Kan," "Picadillo," "Cao Cao Mani Picao," "Pa' los Rumberos," "Hong Kong Mambo" (actually an alternate take), "Dance Mania," and "Ti Mon Bo." John Bush