Pop : A Tropical Celebration With Puente

Not many artists get to record 100 albums, so when Latin bandleader and composer Tito Puente--one of the most prominent and prolific musicians in United States since the early ‘50s--reached that milestone, a little celebration seemed in order.

On Saturday at the Universal Amphitheatre, some of the most distinguished figures in the world of Latin tropical music joined Puente and his orchestra to re-create their collaborations on the recently released “The 100th.”

The three-hour-plus concert ran the gamut of tropical rhythms, from son montuno to salsa, from mambo to jazz, as each of the nine guests sang a couple of songs with Puente’s 18-member ensemble.

A frenzied performance by Oscar D’Leon, who sang a medley of tropical classics and the song “Hay Que Trabajar” (“We Got to Work”), stretched the power of the ensemble to its limits in the spiciest set of the evening.

Percussionist Puente and his cousin Millie P. showed their coordination on a unison timbales workout--a regular feature at most of his concerts. The participation of Santos Colon, who sang a bolero, lent a bit of nostalgia to the show--Colon was the vocalist of Puente’s group in the late ‘50s. Puente’s regular vocal companion Celia Cruz appeared at the end of the program to sing “Celia y Tito,” a Johnny Pacheco composition about the moments shared by these two living legends.

In timely tribute, several artists referred to Puente as “the mambo king,” but none of his contributions to that film’s score were performed Saturday.

Although the diverse spectacle flowed smoothly on the musical side, the constant interruptions between sets by talkative emcees disrupted the overall continuity.

At the end, all the guests (the others were Jose Alberto (“El Canario”), Ismael Miranda, Tito Nieves, Tony Vega and Domingo Quinones) returned to the stage for a melodramatic encore, joining Puente’s band to sing “El Numero 100,” a song that pays homage to the composer’s extensive musical catalogue.