With the album sleeve depicting Colon in mobster suit, fedora and toting his trombone like a machine gun, you could be forgiven for thinking he’d just stepped out of a vintage blaxploitation flick. In his extremely prolific career, Colon has, at various times, worn many different hats (trombonist, bandleader, arranger, singer, producer, community leader and New York congressman) but his golden years in terms of musical output coincides with his time as one of the major stars on the king of all salsa labels, Fania.
This deluxe 27-track doubledisc collection spans Colon’s Fania years from 1966’s Fuego En El Barrio, all the way to Nunca Se Acaba, from 1989’s Top Secrets, his final album for Fania before signing with Sony. In between, there’s material from Colon’s 23 Fania albums, including landmark 70s releases such as The Hustler, Guisando and Lo Mato, which document his many stylistic departures from the traditional salsa recipe under the banner of the New York sound. Chief among the many and varied highlights is the inspired head-to-head with Ruben Blades on the monumental blend of the streetwise and musical sophistication that is Perdo Navaja. Estupendo!
