Tito Puente

Back in the early 1960s, any dance hall could use Dance Mania as a one-stop shop for the hottest Afro-Caribbean rhythms. The original album was such a hit that Dance Mania, Vol. 2 soon followed. Both albums are collected on this expanded edition, along with a number of earlier songs, such as the unstoppable "Havana After Dark." The American-born, Spanish Harlem-raised Puente combined his love for jazz and Latin music into a seamless whole. This fine set is a great starting point to discover a complex artist who kept jazz in popular dance music for decades.