Fania All-Stars - Salsa

The All-Stars are the house band of Fania Records, comprised of the label's bandleaders, top sidemen and vocalists. The history of the band represents the rise and promulgation of salsa as a marketing tag for Latin music. The band's start in recording was a promotional event with various artists, including Tito Puente of Tico Records and Eddie Palmieri and Ricardo Ray and Bobby Cruz of Alegre Records. Two recordings of the Fania All Stars: Live At The Red Garter volumes 1 and 2 (1968) were made but neither were very sellers. Typical of the groups classic sound is Echale Salsita.

In 1971 the second Fania All Stars concert was recorded and filmed live, resulting in Volumes 1 and 2 of the Fania All Stars Live At The Cheetah became the biggest selling Latin albums ever produced by one group from one concert.

After sell-out concerts in Puerto Rico, Chicago and Panama, the Fania All Stars made their first appearance at New York's 63,000 capacity Yankee Stadium on 24 August 1973, with Fania's leading lights Ray Barretto, Willie Colon, Larry Harlow, Johnny Pacheco, Roberto Roena, Bobby Valentin and others jamming with Manu Dibango, Mongo Santamaria and Jorge Santana (younger brother of Carlos Santana). Before the event, it was ambitiously predicted that the concert would revolutionize the music business like the Beatles in the early 60s and Woodstock in 1969. Material from their August 1973 Yankee Stadium concert and a concert at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico, made up one side of Latin-Soul-Rock (1974).

In 1974, the All Stars performances at the 80,000 seat Stadu du Hai in Kinshasa, Zaire, were also filmed by Gast and released as the movie Live In Africa (1974, issued on video in the UK under the title Salsa Madness in 1991). This Zairean appearance occurred along with Stevie Wonder and others at a music festival held in conjunction with the Mohammed Alp/George Foreman heavyweight title fight.

The Fania All Stars return to the Yankee Stadium in 1975 resulted in two volumes of Live At Yankee Stadium (1975), which highlighted Fania's and stablemates Vaya Records' top vocalists Celia Cruz, Hector Lavoe, Cheo Feliciano, Ismael Miranda, Justo Betancourt, Ismael Quintana, Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez, Bobby Cruz and Santos Colon.