Who makes the best salsa?

February 7, 2007 7:40 AM

What are your favorite salsa artists and albums?

Señorita Tacos and I like the salsa, but we have trouble finding good music. What are your favorites?

We know the big names like Marc Anthony and Victor Manuelle, but could use more. We salsa a lot, so our collection needs expansion.

posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great to grab bag (12 comments total)

My favorite, of all time, is Mr. Rubén Blades, the progenitor of so-called salsa intellectual, a great starting point for him would be the album "Siembra", featuring bandleader Willie Colón.

Of course, the music of singer Hector Lavoe (from the generation prior to Blades) is considered some "golden era" salsa music, along the same lines (but far more "musical") you could probably consider anything by Tito Puente.

On top of it all, one of the most interesting guys doing merengue music is percussionist Chichi Peralta (he's a Dominican, if I recall correctly), and his album with singer Jandy Feliz, "Pa otro la'o" is a nice intro to that genre.
posted by The Giant Squid at 7:50 AM on February 7, 2007

Celia Cruz is among those responsible for what we know as salsa.

Eddie Palmieri, while tending more towards jazz than the others (like Puente, but a much different flavor) is called maestro for a reason. His entire catalog is worth it. Charlie made great music too.

The Fania All-Stars are a classic, and the great thing about them is they provide a great branching point. Lavoe made music with them, as did many other individuals who are worth checking out on their own, like Willie Colón, Papo Lucca (who I think is even better than Sr. Palmieri), etc.

Bobby Valentin is a great bassist.

Obviously there are more...but these should keep you busy for a while. These guys y girls are all from, like The Giant Squid said, "the Golden Age" of salsa, but by no means are they dated.
posted by invitapriore at 8:29 AM on February 7, 2007

Eh, make that guys and girls. You got me excited. :p
posted by invitapriore at 8:29 AM on February 7, 2007

I heartily recommend Hector Lavoe and Willie Colon. Their version of La Murga, is one of the masterpieces of joyful dance music.

Explore the Fania site, they're the motown of Salsa and the new owners are putting out a ton of reissues.

If you want to get a little more obscure, one of my personal favorites is the Lebron Brothers (Los Hermans Lebron).
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:35 AM on February 7, 2007

Los Hermanos Lebron, duh.
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:36 AM on February 7, 2007

Check out the Salsa section over at Calabash Music.
posted by onhazier at 9:31 AM on February 7, 2007

I would look into some of the experimental stuff that was taking place in NYC in the late-70s. This is when Salsa was just taking off, and also talking to funk, soul and other emerging styles. SoulJazz has put out an absolutely amazing compilation - Nuyorica: Experiments in Latin Music . Bands like Ocho, Cortijo, and all of that Fania records stuff is great.
posted by jtajta at 11:30 AM on February 7, 2007

You might also consider looking into African salsa (mostly central African). Turns out that in the 40's and 50's some Cuban salsa vinyl found its way to the African coast (Ivory Coast, Senegal), and the locals began to put out their own versions. Examples of good groups would include Africando, Orquesta Baobab, Los Afro-Salseros de Senegal. A good intro might be Putumayo's Afro-Latino compilation (Me vuelvo guajiro being one af my all-time favorite salsa interpretations).
posted by subajestad at 12:08 PM on February 7, 2007

I second all the Hector Lavoe/Willie Colon recs. But you gots to check out La Lupe. Her voice just booms over Celia Cruz, a frequent rival. She was a star for Fania records in the 60s/70s but often controversial for her then-beliefs in Santeria and her feverish on-stage performances. She never got the commercial success of Celia Cruz. Though she did a lot of salsa her music spanned from New York boogaloo to traditional Cuban son but always with her trademark frenetically, intense style. She pased away in the early 90s but like everyone else, has a myspace page, queenoflatinsoul
posted by caveatz at 12:28 PM on February 7, 2007

Tito Puente, Willie Colon, Justo Betancourt, Mongo Santamaria, Larry Harlowe, Willie Bobo, Johnny Pacheco and his majesty Ray Barretto.

Also, just about anything on the legendary Fania label (which has recently put out a fantastically packaged set of reissues) is a great place to get started.
posted by jonmc at 12:33 PM on February 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

caveat: some of the above artists veer into boogaloo/latin soul territory on occasion.
posted by jonmc at 12:35 PM on February 7, 2007

Thank you so much!

We had some of these artists, but this list will keep us busy for months.

Fantastic. Just fantastic!
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great at 2:36 PM on February 7, 2007