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Big bang theory
Pop records fronted by percussionists gave Latin soul label Tico a distinctive drive. By Jim Irvin.
Hits from the …Bongo!: (from left) Tito Puente and La Lupe shake a leg; (right) vocal powerhouse Celia Cruz.
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AMONG THE FIRST to press Latin music in New York when the mambo craze blew into town was George Goldner, who founded Tico Records in 1948 to release records by the scene’s frontr unners, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez and Joe Loco, all of them percussion specialists. Goldner possessed shrewd ears – he’d go on to launch doo wop labels Gone and End, pop label Roulette and Leiber & Stoller’s outlet Red Bird – but also possessed a treacherous gambling habit. Sooner or later all his companies ended up in the hands of shady music boss Morris Levy, who’d called in Goldner’s debts. With Goldner gone, Levy employed some excellent A&R staff and maintained Tico as an energetic hub for Latin pop right up until 1975 when he sold all the label’s recordings to Jerry Masucci, boss of then dominant Latin label Fania.