Friday, Oct. 18, 2024 at 8 p.m. on KPBS 2 / Stream now with the PBS app
“Mambo Legends: The Music Never Ends” introduces audiences to the New York City-based Mambo Legends Orchestra which is committed to keeping the music of the great Afro-Cuban bandleaders Machito, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodriguez alive for both long-time fans and future generations. Comprised of several former members of these legendary orchestras, The Mambo Legends provide a link to the golden era of music in New York in the early 1940s, when the Machito Orchestra fused the big band sound of popular music with the rhythms of Africa, Cuba, and Puerto Rico to create an enduring musical genre beloved around the world.
Latin music is one of music’s most diverse, influential, and exciting genres. Its roots come from traditional African music that, along with its people, made its way to Havana, New Orleans, and eventually New York City. In the 1940s and '50s, a large wave of Latinos migrated to Brooklyn, the Bronx, and East Harlem, and with them, a new sound began to take form. This new music was a fusion of traditional Cuban rhythms and popular big band arrangements, with Machito and his Afro-Cuban Orchestra at the helm.
Latin music is inherently dance music, and from 1948-1966, the Palladium Ballroom on 53rd Street in New York City was the genre’s epicenter, famous for staging legendary bands and fueling the mambo craze that swept the nation. Initially a dance studio with restrictive race policies, The Palladium eventually opened its doors to Blacks and Latinos and became home to “The Big Three”— the Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, and Machito orchestras. Regular patrons included Marlon Brando (often seen playing his bongos), Marlene Dietrich, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Frank Sinatra.
The Mambo Legends Orchestra is comprised of many former members of the Tito Puente Orchestra, who have come together to bring their sound to the world and expand the music they have been playing for over 40 years. The Orchestra’s musical director is Jose Madera and it is led by Johnny “Dandy” Rodriguez and Mitch Frohman, each having spent over 25 years working with Tito Puente.
While the Mambo Legends have successfully kept the sound of “The Big Three” alive and well, the reality is that many of these musicians are struggling more than ever to make a living. Lacking fair compensation during the peak of the music’s popularity, these trailblazers are often forced to hold fundraising gigs to pay for healthcare, housing, and even funerals.
Through candid interviews with orchestra members and exhilarating live performance footage, “Mambo Legends: The Music Never Ends” tells the story of the music through the musicians who helped create an enduring musical genre that remains popular around the world.
Watch On Your Schedule: VOCES “Mambo Legends: The Music Never Ends” is available to stream on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS app, available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.
Credits: Produced and directed by Mari Keiko Gonzalez and produced by Lorraine Galvis.
