El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico: The University of Salsa

No single ensemble embodies the durability and excellence of salsa as completely as El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. For more than sixty years it has served as the island's flagship orchestra and a proving 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 out of the recently dissolved Cortijo y su Combo, whose breakup followed the arrest of its celebrated lead singer, Ismael Rivera.^[1] Among the founding members was the bongosero Roberto Roena, one of several key players who would define the new band's sound.^[1]

The University of Salsa

What Ithier assembled was a thirteen-piece powerhouse distinguished by sharp, punchy horn sections, lush vocal harmonies, and an irresistible dance pulse — and by a remarkable collective structure that held it together for decades.^[1] Across more than seventy albums, El Gran Combo became the heartbeat of Puerto Rican salsa and one of its most successful exports, embraced as far afield as Colombia — securing Puerto Rico's central place in salsa and the island's standing as a hub of long-running orchestras within the wider Caribbean dance-music scene.^[1][2]

Just as importantly, the orchestra functioned as a school for singers, launching the careers of soneros who went on to stardom in their own right — among them Andy Montañez and Charlie Aponte.^[1] It was this role as a launching pad that earned the band its enduring nickname, the University of Salsa.

A six-decade institution

Rafael Ithier led the orchestra he had 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 through 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. Set beside the Fania movement of New York, it stands as one of the twin pillars of the classic salsa age and the enduring pride of Puerto Rico.