Fania All-Stars

Recorded live at New York's premier discotheque with the usual, stellar Fania All-Stars lineup, the groove is incessant, the mood exultant, and the players palpably happy with the audience and themselves as they exchange licks. The tunes are a bit long -- "Quitate Tu," the closer, is a 16-minute jam session in which the bandmembers one by one contribute lyrics, to the delight of the audience. Ray Barretto's "Descarga Fania" features a lovely piano break and some inspired, raucous horn playing (a nice contrast to the tightly arranged horn charts one usually hears), and Cheo Feliciano's lead vocal on "Anacaona" soars. Twenty-four years later it's still the first salsa recording to reach for -- ultimate party music played by the masters. [The expanded edition includes three bonus tracks: Johnny Pacheco's "El Rey de la Puntualidad" and "Usando el Coco" and Pacheco and Ramon Diaz's "Por Eso Yo Canta Salsa."] ~ Janet Rosen, All Music Guide