Led by pianist Rafael Ithier Eddie Perez as musical director, El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico ranks among Puerto Rico’s premier dance ensembles. More than four decades after forming, the thirteen-piece salsa outfit still moves audiences through its brass-driven Latin grooves and rich choral textures. The Puerto Rican Senate has formally designated the ensemble “Ambassadors of Our Music,” and its catalog features enduring staples such as “El Menu” and “Timablero.” Its 1978 release En Las Vegas surpassed one million units sold, whereas the subsequent In Alaska: Breaking the Ice earned a Grammy nomination. After years as a core member of Cortijo y Su Combo, Ithier assembled El Gran Combo in 1962 alongside eight colleagues from that ensemble, among them percussionist, dancer, chorus singer, and future salsa leader Roberto Roena. The group’s first album, Acángana, was captured in Puerto Rico just two days before President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, yet local distribution waited until copies had already appeared in Mexico, Panama, Venezuela, and the United States. Throughout the early 1960s the band steadily enlarged its audience, drawing fervent responses in New York, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela. At home, the musicians became frequent guests on the television program El Show de Las 12.
Although the roster has experienced repeated shifts, Ithier and alto saxophonist Eddie Perez remain the sole original members. Roena departed in 1969 to establish his own Roberta Roena y Su Apollo Sound, while vocalist Andy Montañez joined Dimensión Latina in 1977. Trumpeter Taty Maldonado died in 1991. Even after these departures, the collective adapted, incorporating a trombonist and a third singer in 1991 and maintaining a strong front line that has included Charlie Aponte since 1972 and Jerry Rivas, Montañez’s eventual replacement. By 2002 the lineup featured vocalists Charlie Aponte, Jerry Rivas, and Papo Rosario, trombonists Victor Rodriguez and Moises Nogueras, saxophonist Freddy Miranda, bassist Fred Rivera, and a rhythm section comprising Miguel Torres on congas, Domingo Santos on timbales, and Mitchell Laboy on bongos.
The refreshed ensemble unveiled Aquí Estamos y...¡De Verdad! in 2004, earning widespread praise and a prominent position on the Latin Airplay charts. Two years afterward the band repeated its success with Arroz con Habichuela and the seasonal collection Asi Es Nuestro Navidad, the latter spotlighting Gilberto Santa Rosa. In 2008 the Combo label reissued seven historic titles, while the 2010 project Salsa: Un Homenaje a el Gran Combo climbed to number three on Top Latin Albums and entered the Billboard 200. Issued on Sony, 2011’s Sin Salsa No Hay Paraiso registered on the year-end Latin Albums tally and additional rankings. Marking fifty years, 50 Aniversario, Vol. 1 arrived as the group’s first EGC Records release; three-quarters of the set consisted of newly recorded versions of signature material together with reflections from Ithier and other veterans, and it reached the Top Ten at Top Latin Albums. The musicians sustained an active international itinerary, filling venues across Latin America, Europe, and the United States. Following the retirement of vocalist Charlie Aponte, Anthony Garcia assumed the role for 2016’s Alunizando, an album that resonated with listeners and peaked at number four on the Top Latin Albums chart.
