El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico: the greatest salsa show on earth! Celebrating 40 years as a group with a new 2-CD live recording on BMG, El Gran Combo continues on its mission of performing world-class dance music

Latin Beat Magazine, Sept, 2002 by Jesse Varela

With a roar of audience approval, the crown jewel of Puerto Rican salsa swung into a set of its world-famed boricua groove at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San José. Celebrating El Dia De San Juan, El Gran Combo gave an energetic outdoor presentation that stayed in high gear from beginning to end. The stage area was packed with an adoring public for the greatest combo in salsa dance music celebrating its 40th anniversary.

As pianist/bandleader Rafael Ithier grinned, "los mulatos del sabor" paced like clockwork, with songs pouring out in a perpetual greatest-hit medley. Tight ensemble charts, familiar coros, razor-sharp choreography and a front-line of singers with their own distinct personalities and hits personified this musical institution, a.k.a. La Universidad de la Salsa. Fathers held up their sons and daughters above the crowd so they could see and experience these cultural icons.

Tú Me Hiciste Brujeria was a chorus that electrified the crowd. Watching singers Charlie Aponte, Jerry Rivas and Papo Rosario going through their dance routines and delivering energetic vocals was a wonder of athleticism and stamina. The saxes, trumpets and trombones filled out the sound, as people danced, smiled and sang along.

"It's very important, reaching this milestone," said Rafael Ithier from his home in Puerto Rico. "Remember, turning 40 years old with practically the same group is a novelty in this day and age. It was a different era when we got started. I never thought we would reach this age with the type of support and affection we receive from our audience. It's a symbol of great esteem."

Wearing shirts with streams of gold, red and aqua, El Gran Combo was the epitome of professionalism. After a good 15-minute opening medley, Don Rafael Ithier stepped up to the microphone and told the crowd, "Okay, we played the numbers we wanted to play, now what do you want to hear?" As people shouted titles like Timbalero, Don Goyo and other hits, he laughed, overwhelmed with suggestions, and broke into the oldie but goodie, El Jala Jala.

"We live by them. If they give us 20 cents, 10 cents, even 5 cents, it doesn't matter we live just by their presence. The presence of those people who saw us being born, who in turn brought their sons and daughters to see us. It's been seeing that turnover of generations that has stimulated us to continue doing what we're doing. You know you begin to lose that spark for playing if you don't have an impulse to drive you on."

CORTIJO Y SU COMBO

With countless hits and a roster of hall-of-fame alumni such as Andy Montañez, Pellin Rodríguez and Gilberto Santa Rosa, EGC needs a special place carved out for its contribution to Latin music. Their fusion of Afro-Caribbean rhythms with the traditional bomba y plena beats of Puerto Rico was an innovation that inspired musicians and dancers alike. Theirs was a music that grew out of the ghettos of Santurce and San Juan and whose roots lie in the pivotal combo of percussionist/bandleader Rafael Cortijo.

It was Cortijo who took the bomba y plena beats and transcended them into dancehalls with a horn-driven combo. The group included the traditional Latin rhythm section of timbal, conga and bongó and played standing up with an upbeat carnaval spirit. Vocalist Ismael Rivera propelled the group with hits Quitate De La Via Perico and Negro Bembón. At the piano chair was Rafael Ithier, a young man who grew up with Cortijo.

"We created a sound that people liked," said Ithier about Cortijo's combo. "We wanted to play traditional tropical music but began to include distinct instruments and rhythms like pachanga. We continued down that same path with EGC but under the umbrella of salsa, always playing the best music we could."

From a family of musicians, Ithier--who grew up in Santurce, P.R.--heard and absorbed the music of Cuarteto Marcaño, Claudio Ferrer and the big bands of the era. He began playing guitar in neighborhood bars. Drafted into the U.S. military service during the Korean conflict, he returned with the desire to play piano and wound up in San Juan with the society big band, Orquesta Panamericana. But in 1954 his boyhood friend Rafael Cortijo recruited him to form a combo that would prove to be a pivotal force in the evolution of tropical dance music.

"Cortijo's original combo had one saxophone--Eddy Pérez--who is still with EGC. Then we added the late Rogelio Velez on trumpet. That was the original combination with Rafael Cortijo. Then Eddy got out of the group for a while and we brought in Héctor Santos. Eddy decided to return to the combo after two to three months so we had two saxophones. To make the sound more stable we added another trumpet."

Cortijo y su Combo began performing at La Riviera, a dockside bar in San Juan. They got an added attraction in 1955 when singer Ismael Rivera joined them. Interpreting songs by Bobby Capó and Tite Curet Alonso, Rivera became a musical institution. It was Rafael Cepeda who wrote the group's first hit. El Bombón De Elena. They were hot and became regulars on the island TV program "El Show del Medio Dia." A great band with a smoking rhythm section of Cortijo, Roberto Roena and Martín Quiñones, it was unfortunately plagued by internal strife and in 1962 when Rivera was jailed on drug offenses, the combo split up.