In 1979 Puente won his first Grammy award with a tribute album to Beny Mor , Homenaje a Beny. That same year he established a personal scholarship fund at Juilliard to recognize Latin percussionists in the United States. It's not only what you learn in the streets you've really got to go and study. Puente has continued to strengthen his commitment to the future of Latin music by performing regularly at colleges and universities across the country. Work in the 1980s and Beyond During the 1980s, Puente concentrated his efforts on blending the best of Latin and jazz music into his unique style.
Latin music can be boring, too, because it's only tonic and dominant.
You gotta know about jazz to play these things. Two more Grammy awards during the decade and a fourth in 1990 confirmed that Puente was still at the top of his performance. His compositions, too, have evolved over the years. I'm a dancer. While continuing to produce solid albums, including a record 100th in 1992, Puente has become more visible to a mainstream audience.