Launched by pianist Rafael Ithier in 1962, El Gran Combo folded Puerto Rico's African-based bomba and plena rhythms into a deeply swinging salsa institution. The big band plays robust pop music for the masses, singing about tropical folklore, partying and everyday life amid casually sophisticated horns, polyrhythmic percussion, improvising vocalists and a vamping chorus. The band's playful side emerges in songs like "Brujeria", with star vocalist Charlie Aponte acquiring a case of the shivers, and in the Asian-inspired harmonies of "Ojos Chinos".