El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico: The University of Salsa

No single group embodies the durability and excellence of salsa like El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. For more than sixty years it has been the island's flagship orchestra and a training ground for its finest singers — so central to the music that it is known as "La Universidad de la Salsa," the University of Salsa.^[1]

Born from Cortijo’s Combo

El Gran Combo was founded on 26 May 1962 by the pianist and musical director Rafael Ithier, together with eight other musicians.^[1] They came from the recently dissolved Cortijo y su Combo, whose breakup followed the arrest of its lead singer, the great Ismael Rivera.^[1] Among the founders were the timbalero Roberto Roena and other key players who would shape the new band's sound.^[1]

The University of Salsa

What Ithier built was a 13-piece powerhouse defined by sharp, punchy horn sections, lush vocal harmonies, and an irresistible dance pulse — and by a remarkable collective structure that kept it together for decades.^[1] Across more than seventy albums, El Gran Combo became the heartbeat of Puerto Rican salsa and one of its greatest exports, beloved as far away as Colombia.^[1]

Crucially, the orchestra served as a school for singers, launching the careers of soneros who would become stars in their own right — among them Andy Montañez and Charlie Aponte.^[1] That role as a launching pad gave the band its enduring nickname, the University of Salsa.

A six-decade institution

Rafael Ithier led the orchestra he founded with extraordinary continuity, remaining at its helm into his late nineties; he died in December 2025 at the age of 99, having guided El Gran Combo across more than six decades of unbroken activity.^[1] The band plays on, a living institution of the genre.

Why it matters

El Gran Combo matters because it is the most durable and beloved orchestra in salsa history. Where individual stars rose and faded, El Gran Combo endured — a model of collective musicianship that defined the Puerto Rican salsa sound and trained the singers who carried it forward. Alongside the Fania movement of New York, it stands as one of the twin pillars of the classic salsa age, and the pride of Puerto Rico.