Tito Puente at the timbales as a young man.
Tito Puente was still a teenager when he was drafted into the United States Navy in 1942. And while the man we remember as
El Rey de los Timbales (“The King of the Timbales”) is a defining titan of Latin jazz, there’s a distinct Asian influence in much of his compositional and arranging style that came out of his service during World War II.
Born and raised in Harlem, N.Y., Ernest Anthony Puente, Jr. was trained on piano for eight years by Victoria Hernández — sister of the legendary Puerto Rican composer Rafael Hernández, who had been a member of the U.S. Army 369th Regiment Harlem Hellfighters Band in the first World War. Young Ernie studied jazz drumming with an African American show drummer that he could only remember as Mr. Williams, while also learning acrobatic tap and ballroom dancing with his sister Annie.