El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico Salsa Music ALBUMS on VINYL

  El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, widely known as "La Universidad de la Salsa," is one of the most iconic salsa orchestras on the planet. Founded in May 1962 by pianist and musical director Rafael Ithier, the group became a cultural institution in Puerto Rico and a permanent export to dancefloors across Latin America (and beyond). By the 1980s and 1990s, they were still doing what they do best: making the genre look easy while everybody else tried to keep up.

  Their catalog is long enough to qualify as homework, but the timeline matters. Albums like "En Accion" (1973) and "Aqui No Se Sienta Nadie!" (1979) belong to the late-70s build-up, not the 1980s. The early 80s then kept the momentum rolling with releases such as "Happy Days" (1981) and the 20th-anniversary era in 1982 (including "Nuestro Aniversario"). Big crowd magnets followed in the mid-80s too, with "La Loma del Tamarindo" appearing on the 1985 album "Innovations," and "La Fiesta de Pilito" arriving in 1985 as well. And if anyone wonders why the band can slip into boogaloo without breaking a sweat, that streak goes back to the 1960s, with "Boogaloo del Gran Combo" already circulating in 1968.

  Live, they were never the kind of band that stands still and behaves. Tight arrangements, drilled-to-perfection band chemistry, and that signature showmanship (yes, including choreography) made the stage feel like a party with a conductor. When El Gran Combo hit, audiences didn’t “listen” so much as surrender and start moving.

  When the calendar flipped into the 1990s, the output didn’t dry up. "Latin Up!" (1990) is a key marker for that period, and one of the era’s best-known titles, "Achilipu," is commonly linked to the "Latin Up!" timeframe in modern discographies. Just don’t pin any of that to "El Swing del Gran Combo" as a 1990 release: that album dates back to 1966. Same story with "Por el Libro," which is a 1972 album, not a 1991 one. And "Nuevo Milenio: El Mismo Sabor" lands in 2001, not 1999.

  Through the 1990s, they stayed a frontline name in salsa even as other sounds started getting louder toward the end of the decade. The trick was never trend-chasing. It was craft: melodies that stick, grooves that lock, and musicians who sound like they actually enjoy being this good at their jobs.

  In 1992, El Gran Combo marked 30 years with a huge anniversary concert in San Juan at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, drawing a reported crowd of about 30,000 people. That number is plenty terrifying, in a good way.

  Today, El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico still tours and performs, keeping that classic salsa engine running for new listeners and old heads alike. Some bands age into nostalgia. This one ages into proof.