The comparison is inevitable. How could it be otherwise? Tito Puente Jr. carries his father with him – imprinted on his physical being and locked in his soul. It's in his looks, his joy, his music. No doubt, every time Tito Jr. walks on stage – he walks in his father's footsteps.

"It would be more appropriate, in fact, to call it an extravaganza, not a concert." - Jennifer Laster, San Antonio Express-News

Here is what Wickersham's Conscience had to say:

The Tito Puente, Jr. Orchestra was at Hering Auditorium last night, a part of Fairbanks Concert Association’s 2011-12 concert season. Any dust left in the rafters after k. d. lang, Te Vaka, Sweet Plantain and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was shaken loose as the second generation of the mambo kings rocked down the house.

Tito Puente fils is the proud son and mantle-bearer for the late, great Tito Puente père, multiple Grammy winner and titan of mambo music. Puente fils has assembled an exceptional band: electric piano, electric bass, congas, bongo drums, tenor sax, alto sax, trombone and two trumpets, as well as the kid himself on timbales. Gamalier Reyes, on bongo and vocals, was truly remakable. In an FCA season that has seen some amazing drumming, Reyes probably wins some kind of prize. The band was tight, obviously having a good time and pitch-perfect. The drummers’ ability to weave their rhythms together was especially impressive.

As was the case with Puente père, there are vocals, mostly in Spanish. Puente fils and Reyes have good voices. They had a guest vocalist – a former member of the band who left to join the U.S. Army, and is now a staff sergeant, stationed in Alaska. He’s the cousin of keyboardist and musical director Marlow Rosado. It was a sweet gesture. His singing, though, wasn’t so sweet. It may be that shouting at soldiers for years has damaged the staff sergeant’s voice but, really, that was the only weak point.

Puente fils brings a slightly more jazz-inflected approach to his father’s music. It’s okay with WC; simply re-playing your father’s music is a creative dead end. Most of the songs the band performed were Puente père songs. But the jazz improvisations around the old tunes gave them a new life. It keeps his father’s music alive, but lets him stretch his creative muscle as well. A handful of songs were written by Puente fils for his new CD, Got Mambo, and were quite good; “Junior’s Mambo,” written for his son, in particular was sweet, heart-felt and a fine song.

In the middle of the second set, Puente invited some talented local Fairbanksans on stage to remind the crowd that the scene at the Palladium with Tito Puente père was about dance as well as music. Milly Donay and Pedro ‘Cuban Pete’ Aguliar popularized Latin dancing, starting at the Palladium. The Fairbanks dancers reminded us why.

Puente père’s greatest pop hit was Oye Como Va, which Carlos Santana turned into a #1 hit on his multi-platinum album, Abraxas. So it was fitting that the show closed with a terrific, jazz-inflected version of the song.

Puente fils is a great entertainer, interacts well with the crowd in English and Spanish, and has a smile as infectious as his music. Folks who weren’t dancing in the aisles were bouncing up and down in their seats. He and his band put on a great concert.

Tito Puente, JR. - Mambo Gozon.