Salsa de los '60s

Sparks flew when former Sonora Matancera diva Celia Cruz got together with New York bandleader Tito Puente for the recording of the 1966 album Cuba y Puerto Rico Son.... "La Guarachera" was its opening track. In Puerto Rico, the '60s saw the emergence of El Gran Combo — a luscious salsa band that recorded with abandon throughout the decade. "Oye Mi Canto" exemplifies the rootsy qualities of El Combo's sound.

Eddie Palmieri and his trombone-heavy ensemble La Perfecta cooked up the funkiest salsa of the '60s. The 1965 gem "Oyelo Que Te Conviene" brims with the maestro's edgy vibe. Pete Rodríguez's "Micaela" is an early and timeless boogaloo classic. In Mexico, La Sonora Santanera enjoyed tremendous success with its own version of salsa, and the smash single "La Boa."

During the '70s, keyboardist Charlie Palmieri recorded a number of straight-ahead salsa sessions. But in the early '60s, he was still favoring the wide-eyed charanga vibe of "Bronx Pachanga USA." Peruvian salsa? Absolutely, as Coco Lagos aptly demonstrates on the rare nugget "La Rumba Empezó." Los Zafiros' delightful "Rumba Como Quiera" blends Afro-Cuban idioms with doo wop and Brazilian bossa nova.

The '60s was a decade of endless wonder for Afro-Caribbean music. The genre experienced a fascinating transformation - from the innocence of the charanga aesthetic and the big band opulence of the mambo, to the grittier sounds of New York-based salsa, boogaloo and a silly dance fad by the name of pachanga. The salsa boom itself would happen in the '70s, but the decade that we celebrate in this kaleidoscopic list was a time of endless promise and earth-shattering dance jams.