On January 12, a crowd packed midtown Manhattan’s Club Babalú to witness a special showcase featuring The Big Three Palladium Orchestra, an orchestra comprised of alumni from the big bands of the three giants of Latin music: Frank “Machito” Grillo, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodríguez.
When I asked Mario Grillo–son of the legendary Machito and leader of the present day Machito Orchestra–what led to the concept behind the creation of The Big Three Palladium Orchestra, he explained, “It was my idea to create the band, with the go-ahead from [Tito Puente’s widow] Margie Puente, Tito Rodríguez, Jr., and Tito Puente, Jr. The idea was to play the music of the three masters in a concert format.”
The Club Babalú concert was, as Grillo accurately described it, “one and a half hour’s worth of intense music,” with the 24-piece orchestra, including five saxophones, four trumpets, three trombones and four rhythm section players, plus three timbaleros and three vocalists belting out the classics of “the three greats,” one after another. They performed Machito’s Sambia, Mambo Inn, Babarabatiri and Oye La Rumba; Tito Rodríguez’s Mama Guela, Chévere and El Mundo de Las Locas, and Tito Puente’s Cayuco, Complicación and Oye Como Vá. Grillo cited these numbers as being “examples of the book.” He added, “We have, combined, about 2,500 tunes we can play–about 250 albums. So we can play forever, if need be!”
The Big Three Palladium Orchestra’s concerts so far include appearances at New York City’s Verizon Festival with Abbey Lincoln, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center with Giovanni Hidalgo, New York’s Belleayre Festival, the Concord Jazz Festival in California with Eddie Palmieri and Arturo Sandoval, and the Hollywood Bowl with Celia Cruz.
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Those experiencing the electrically charged evening conveyed to me that they were thrilled to watch the sons of “the three greats”–Mario Grillo, Tito Rodríguez, Jr., Tito Puente, Jr. and Ronald Puente–onstage performing the original charts. Those present who fell in love with the music during the ‘50s and ‘60s, when it swept America, and those who wished they had been born earlier and could have danced at the Palladium Ballroom, can attest mightily to the fact that this music is most definitely alive and well! Additional information about The Big Three Palladium Orchestra is available online at www.bprmusic.com.
Source: Latin Beat Magazine • Article by Vicki Sola