San Diego Concert Honors Latin Jazz Artist Tito Puente
San Diegans, get ready to mambo.
A special concert will salute the legendary band leader and percussionist Tito Puente at Embarcadero Marina Park South Thursday evening.
The show will feature renowned San Diego trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos, who will lead a band in a performance that's expected to bring the audience to their feet with some of Puente’s biggest hits.
El Rey, or The King, died in 2000 at age 77. Critics credit Puente for the popularity of Latin music in the U.S. He was known for mixing American jazz with Afro-Cuban rhythms and wrote Carlos Santana's hit "Oye Como Va".
The show kicks off the San Diego Symphony’s new Thursday Night Jazz series [PDF - Download Acrobat Reader].
