LP cover for “Cosa Nuestra” by Willie Colón (1969) (Wikipedia) By SANDRA E. GARCÍA (An Appraisal) Every genre has its bad guy, villain, heel. In the world of salsa, that dark genius was Willie Colón, who died Saturday at the age of 75. His predilection for playing the antagonist came across in a variety of ways. The titles of his music albums: 1967’s “El Malo,” which translates to “The Bad Guy”; 1973’s “Lo Mato — Si No Compra Este LP,” or “I’ll Kill Him — If You Don’t Buy Thi

By GLENN KENNY At one point in this film about protean musician Billy Preston, drummer and producer Bill Maxwell says, “Billy didn’t just have perfect pitch, he had perfect anticipation.” Meaning Preston could play a tune through with the other musicians after hearing only a few chords. And “Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It,” a sometimes mind-blowing documentary directed by Paris Barclay, doesn’t ask you to take Maxwell’s word for it. The movie has abundant archi

“One Battle After Another” which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, won the best film honors at this year’s EE British Academy Film Awards. By ALEX MARSHALL “One Battle After Another” won the best film honors at this year’s EE British Academy Film Awards on Sunday at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The movie, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Teyana Taylor, took home six awards at Britain’s equivalent of the Oscars, commonly known as the BAFTAs. Its awards included best director,

Photo credits, counterclockwise from upper right: Wikipedia, Discogs, Wikipedia/Fania Records By ED MORALES The music that the world now knows as salsa would probably not exist if not for the vision of Willie Colón. While Eddie Palmieri’s La Perfecta had been plying the two-trombone sound for years, Colón made the instrument central to his band, and the instrument’s ornery, sarcastic, yet often uplifting sound defined not only salsa’s break from the Cuban tradition, but the N

Willie Colón plays a tribute concert to Ismael Miranda, in New York on June 8, 2009. Colón, a trombonist, singer and bandleader whose driving energy and mischievous bad-boy image helped make him a luminary of New York City music, and whose 1978 collaboration with Rubén Blades, “Siembra,” was one of the top-selling salsa albums of all time, died on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. He was 75. (Chad Batka/The New York Times) By DERRICK BRYSON TAYLOR and ADAM BERNSTEIN Willie Colón, a tr

Composer Alberto Guidobaldi (Facebook via Coralia [Coro de Concierto de la Universidad de Puerto Rico]) By PEGGY ANN BLISS Special to The STAR Sunday afternoon at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music will keep the competitive juices flowing along with the Academy Awards and other measures of excellence. Student awards for the Miramar institution’s “2025 Interdepartmental Competition” will be presented along with an entertaining program, according to information provided by R

Hungarian composer Bela Bartok in 1927 (Wikipedia) By PEGGY ANN BLISS Special to The STAR In a striking potpourri of precedent-breaking modern music, the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra (PRSO) will unveil three unique pieces this Saturday, with the help of Costa Rican guest conductor Norman Gamboa and Coral Lirica de Puerto Rico directed by native islander Jo-Anne Herrero. Gamboa, who has directed several orchestras in the Southwest United States, is considered one of the outs

Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons,” at his production office in Santa Monica, Calif., June 26, 2018. (David Banks/The New York Times) By DARRYN KING A few years ago at the airport, Matt Groening was steered into the Transportation Security Administration’s secondary screening line and told to remove the contents of his luggage. Then he heard a child’s laugh ring out, in the unmistakable taunting tones of “Simpsons” bully Nelson Muntz: “Ha-ha.” “I don’t know if it was j

Robert Duvall at his farm in northern Virginia, July 14, 2010. (Tony Cenicola/The New York Times) By CLYDE HABERMAN Robert Duvall, who drew from a seemingly bottomless reservoir of acting craftsmanship to transform himself into a business-focused Mafia lawyer, a faded country singer, a cynical police detective, a bullying Marine pilot, a surfing-obsessed Vietnam commander, a mysterious Southern recluse and scores of other film, stage and television characters, died on Sunday.

Sly Dunbar. Rolling Stone ranked him No. 65 in its list of the 100 greatest drummers of all time and, because he was widely sampled, “quite possibly the world’s most recorded musician. By CLAY RISEN Sly Dunbar, who as the drumming half of the Jamaican rhythm duo Sly and Robbie brought driving, rock-influenced beats to the island’s reggae sound while also playing with some of the biggest names in rock music, including Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and Madonna, died last Monday at his