Salsa came out of the New York Puerto Rican/latin community of the 1970's. My mother is Puerto Rican and I kind of grew up with this music in the background, this sampling is by no means exhaustive. And, no I never quite learned to dance as well as I really should have, but I figure there's still time, no?
El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico is among the most respected groups in salsa history, though they have had changes in personnel over the years. Still going strong, too.
El Gran Combo - "Un Verano En NY"
Ruben Blades and Willie Colon released one of the classic salsa albums of all time, Siembra, back in '78 - Ruben has written some of the most classic tracks in the salsa canon, including "Pedro Navaja" from the same album. They both later got into politics (Sr. Blades ran for president of Panama, and Sr. Colon is involved in New York politics) - this video is from their younger days. The only song with a vocal guitar solo because "the guitarist didn't come today" - done here with the piano too.
Ruben Blades & Willie Colon - "Buscando Guayaba"
Hector Lavoe is, sadly, among the few of salsa's founding fathers no longer with us today. Marc Anthony (excellent salsa singer in his own right) and J-Lo (Puerto Rican, but otherwise...well...everybody knows J-Lo) made a movie about his life. Which I haven't seen, and so can't really say much about. What I can say is that almost anything he sang sounds pretty good to this day, and a lot of it is downright fabulous.
Hector Lavoe - "Periodico de Ayer"
Oscar D'Leon is also fairly old school, starting out in Colombia back in the early 70's. This is a song he wrote himself and one of my favorites. Still touring to this day!
Oscar D'Leon - "Lloraras"
Buen provecho!
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