Tito Puente Jr. shares tales of music, his father and his father’s military service at Veterans Day event

Tito Puente Jr. is proud to share his father’s musical and military legacy with the next generation.

Students from Charles A. Prosser Career Academy and nearby elementary schools gathered in the high school’s auditorium for a Friday morning assembly to kick off Veterans Day weekend with the musician.

In partnership with American Legion Staff Sgt. Jason Vazquez Post #939, Ald. Gilbert Villegas’ office hosted its inaugural Heroes & Heritage event, which it plans to host each year.

There, Puente accepted the first-ever Heroes & Heritage award on behalf of his late father for the elder Puente’s service in the Navy during WWII and his commitment to inspiring young musicians. The elder Puente was discharged with a Presidential Unit Citation for serving in nine battles.

“We wanted to honor Latino veterans and first responders in a real way,” said Marcos Torres, a U.S. Army veteran and staffer in Villegas’ office.

Puente’s father, Tito Puente, is considered one of the greatest musicians and bandleaders of all time. He worked on more than100 albums, and his music has appeared in several films.

He took his now-timeless music across the globe, making Latin jazz and mambo mainstream. At the assembly on Friday the younger Puente played one of his dad’s most famous songs, the 1962 classic “Oye Cómo Va,” which was later covered by Carlos Santana.

In Chicago the elder Puente performed at the House of Blues, the Excalibur nightclub and the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park. He died in 2000.

In the 1950s, Puente rolled out several infectiously danceable mambo tracks that earned him the title the “King of Mambo.”

He appeared as himself in a 1995 episode of “The Simpsons” — one of the animated show’s most highly rated episodes of all time— as a suspect in Mr. Burns’ death, in which he sang “Señor Burns.”

“You have to be pretty well known to be on ‘The Simpsons’,” the younger Puente told the Sun-Times. “I didn’t understand how popular he was until I traveled around the planet with him.”

Initially, Puente wasn’t interested in following in his father’s footsteps. Growing up in New York City in the ’70s and ’80s, he fell in love with rock and roll and house music.

He named Def Leppard, Michael Jackson, Led Zeppelin and Phil Collins as some of his earliest influences, and they propelled him toward the drums.

“My father didn’t really care for rock music or hip hop or anything like that. He was born into jazz,” Puente said. “And being born and raised in New York City, in Spanish Harlem … I was listening to a lot of dance music.”

His father never taught him how to make music, Puente said. But his 82-year-old mother, Margarita Puente, encouraged him to join his father on tour.

“He made me go to school. I had to go to college and had drum lessons from the late great Sam Ulano,” he said. “I had to learn my rudiments and learn how to read and write music. … He wasn’t a patient man. He was too busy being the ambassador of Latin music.”

The elder Puente got to experience some of his son’s success. The younger Puente’s first album, “Guarachando,” debuted in 1996 and a year later won a Billboard Music Award for best music video. In 2004, four years after his dad’s passing, he released an album called “En Los Pasos De Mi Padre” (“In My Father’s Footsteps”).

Most of the students at Friday’s assembly were probably unfamiliar with Puente’s music, but they happily clapped along as he demonstrated a beat on the timbales, shallow, steel-encased drums from Cuba, and his dad’s instrument of choice.

One student, Denise Hernández, was thrilled to meet Puente and pose for photos with him and her classmates.

“The most exciting part was learning who he was, because I don’t think I ever heard of him,” said Denise, a 13-year-old 8th-grader attending Hanson Park Elementary School. “I probably have heard his music before, but I just don’t remember. So I might ask my mom a couple questions about him later.”

He hopes to inspire students like Denise to learn about his father’s music, Puente said.

“My name means “bridge” in Spanish. That’s what I’m doing right now, bridging the generations together,” he continued.

Denise is interested in music and listens to Mexican tunes at home, but she told the Sun-Times that her real dream is to become a veterinarian one day.

On Friday, Puente shared a message that his dad often related to others: “Anything that inspires you, do it with Hispanic pride. You are part of this nation.”

He also announced that a documentary film honoring his father was in the works.