Rafael Ithier, the dynamic and congenial Puerto Rican pianist and bandleader who founded renown salsa band El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico and was its leader for decades, died Sunday (Dec. 7) in Puerto Rico. Ithier, who created El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico in 1962, was 99 years old.
Widely considered an institution not just in Caribbean and tropical music but in Latin music overall, Ithier, and the band indelibly associated with his name, gained renewed global attention this year with Bad Bunny’s acclaimed album Debí Tirar Más Fotos. The set’s opening track, “Nuevayol,” which sets the tone for the album’s over-arching homage to salsa and New York, samples El Gran Combo’s 1975 hit “Un Verano en Nueva York.”
Indeed, on December 8, Bunny’s entire Instagram stories’ feed was devoted to Ithier, with a final post that read: “Thank you for one of the biggest contributions that Latin music has had. El Combo is not only an orchestra; it’s part of the soul and the culture of a people: EL Gran Combo is Puerto Rico and our flag plays in the entire world. Long live Rafael Ithier.”
Born and raised in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, in 1926, Ithier, like so many in the island, had ties to music. His uncle, Salvador Ithier, played with Rafael Hernández, another of Puerto Rico’s music legends, and Ithier picked up the guitar at a young age and later taught himself piano. Ithier served in the U.S. during the Korean war, and while there, he formed a music group, Los Borinquena Mambo Boys. Back stateside, Ithier played with Rafael Cortijo’s Cortijo y su Combo before creating what would become El Gran Combo. Initially assembled as a band for a studio session –named simply El Gran Combo (which translates to The Great Group – or combo), the group landed a steady TV gig and grew quickly in importance and recognition.
El Gran Combo’s big band format would become a template for many subsequent big salsa bands, and so would to Ithier’s military precision, emulated by bands like Colombia’s Grupo Niche.
Just last year, Ithier was honored on Veteran’s by the U.S. army for his service and was awarded a medal in his honor.
“I was just a puppet when I went to the army, but I learned discipline and it made me a responsible man and that has supported my life,” Ithier said at the time. “I didn’t do much in the army, but I did do a lot in music. I never fired a shot, but I contributed to music in Puerto Rico.”
In fact, Ithier contributed to music way beyond the island. El Gran Combo became not just an ambassador for Puerto Rico, but an institution. In the tradition of the great bands, it served as a launching pad for countless singers –including Andy Montanéz and Charly Aponte– so much so that it earned the nickname La Universidad de La Salsa, or the Salsa University.
“We lost a pillar. A leyend who took Puerto Rico and our flag around the wolrd with his unparalleled sound,” wrote Marc Anthony on his Instagram stories.
“With the pain of a son that loses his father, I say goodbye to my ‘Querido Viejo’ Rafale Ithier,” wrote Gilberto Santa Rosa on his Instagram feed. “I knew the musical genius and the wonderful person. The leader and natural manager, the loving family man. The patriot, the baseball fan, the proud Puerto Rican who rose from nothing and became an icon (although he never accepted that) of Puerto Rican culture.”
On the charts, El Gran Combo’s brassy, syncopated arrangements and feel good songs, executed with precision and gusto, landed them 10 albums on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart, including five top 10 hits.
On the Tropical Airplay chart, El Gran Combo has an astounding 41 hits, including two No. 1’s –“Se nos perdió el amor” and “Me liberé.”
In 2002, the group was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards.
