It's impossible to overstate Celia Cruz’s role in the history of 20th-century Latin music. Her stature is comparable to Billie Holiday’s in jazz or Patsy Cline’s in country. Such comparisons may be reductive, but one's compelled to make them in face of Cruz's sheer stylistic breadth and commanding musical excellence shown on this 31-track collection, which gathers her classic sides for labels like Tico, Alegre, and Fania. These recordings feature many of the finest bandleaders and musicians of Cruz’s era, and Anthology gives listeners the chance to hear her backed by the likes of Johnny Pacheco, Larry Harlow, Ray Barretto, and Tito Puente. Though a two-disc anthology can't offer a comprehensive survey of a career as long and varied as Cruz’s, this collection succeeds in capturing some of her staggering peaks, and it rounds up a few rarities that may surprise even Cruz devotees.