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Tito Puente

Tito Puente was a famous performer of salsa music, though he never described himself as a salsa musician instead considering his music by the equally all-encompassing term Latin jazz. Puente's career spanned more than five decades. He got his start playing with many great rumba ensembles, such as the Noro Morales Orchestra, during the late 1930s and early 1940s before being drafted into the U.S. Navy during World War II, when he played saxophone in a jazz swing band. After the war, Puente studied orchestration and conducting at the Julliard School of Music in New York City and soon formed his own band, which helped build his reputation as a gifted musician and conductor. He was invited to be a regular performer at the Palladium Ballroom, which quickly became the hotspot for the country's Latin jazz scene. Along with many Latin jazz greats, such as Tito Rodríguez (1923–1973) and Francisco Grillo (aka "Machito"), Puente helped the Palladium Ballroom spawn the 1950s "Mambo Craze" that swept the country.