Metiendo Mano
Artist: Willie Colón
Community Score: 3.00

Salsa history in the making: the album in which Willie Colon introduced Ruben Blades to the wider world. An obvious classic, given Blades's subsequent history, but it's also a gorgeous album with Yomo Toro on two tracks (one playing guitar), the great pianist Sonny Bravo on two cuts, and ace percussion with Milton Cardona and Nicky Marrero. ~... Read More

Amoroso/Brasil
Artist: João Gilberto

Two of the influential João Gilberto's LPs (Amoroso and Brasil) are combined on this single CD. The former session is pretty definitive with Gilberto interpreting four of Antonio Carlos Jobim's compositions (including "Wave" and "Triste") and four other songs (highlighted by "Besame Mucho," "Estate," and an odd 31-bar rendition of "'S... Read More

Taboo
Artist: Ray Barretto

Ray Barretto's Taboo features a new, smaller version of his New World Spirit ensemble. Hector Martignon, who composes along with Barretto, is still here, as are Satoshi Takeishi, Ray Vega, and Jairo Moreno. Saxophonist Adam Kolker takes the sax chair vacated by Jay Rodriguez, and guitarist Alfredo Gonzales has not been replaced. The material is... Read More

Lucumi, Macumba, Voodoo
Artist: Eddie Palmieri
The Sun of Latin Music - MUSICAL PRODUCTIONS
Artist: Eddie Palmieri

This album almost perfectly combines Palmieri's experimentalism with the devastating swing that kept him ahead on the street. The "Un Dia Bonito" suite got the most attention, but "Una Roza Española," a one-cut mini-history of salsa, is enchanting. ~ John Storm Roberts, All Music Guide Read More

Adelante Gigante
Artist: Charlie Palmieri

Eddie Palmieri always said his elder brother was the better player, and by the time of his death, Charlie Palmieri was well enough known outside the barrio to get an obituary in the New York Times. This classic mid-'70s album has all his usual taste, talent, classic piano (and in a couple of places organ) along with his favorite lead singer,... Read More

Impulsos
Artist: Charlie Palmieri

The late Charlie Palmieri was a greater pianist than his brother, as deeply musical, as universally loved, and with far more sense. He picked musicians by talent not fame, and they blew their hearts out for him. This mid-'70s session has the swing, as hot as EPs but more benign. ~ John Storm Roberts, All Music Guide Read More

Siembra
Artist: Willie Colón

The high point of Willie Colón's ongoing collaboration with Rubén Blades (and close to a career peak for both artists), Siembra exploded on the salsa scene in 1978 and has never been forgotten by fans. Beginning with a minute of playfully deceptive quasi-disco arrangements, Colón and his band slip into a devastating salsa groove for the opener,... Read More

The Good-The Bad-The Ugly
Artist: Willie Colón
Community Score: 7.00

This classic recording is by one of the most creative heads in New York salsa. In 1975 The Good.., a New Directions release after Colon got fed up with the two-trombone sound, was the evidence that he could reach beyond his youthful sound into an idiom both wider and deeper. It was also the last album with Hector Lavoe, who had decided to stay a... Read More

The Big Break
Artist: Willie Colón
Community Score: 10.00

Colon's third album is the clearest early sign of his individuality, with a Ghanaian children's song, the first of his Panamanian-influenced numbers, and a prophetic venture into Brazilian rhythms. ~ John Storm Roberts, All Music Guide Read More

My Summertime
Artist: Ray Barretto

Ray Barretto (a master of the congas) has effectively fused together bop-oriented jazz with Latin rhythms to form a particularly viable version of Afro-Cuban jazz; he hates the term "Latin jazz." Rather than sounding like two forms of music, Barretto's group New World Spirit shows that Latin rhythms can uplift all types of jazz songs, even... Read More