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Craft Latino presents a 2024 reissue of 1970’s La Gran Fuga (The Big Break), the Gold-certified album by trombonist, composer, and musical director Willie Colón featuring famed singer Héctor Lavoe. La Gran Fuga features such classics as “Barrunto,” “Pa’ Colombia,” and “Abuelita”—all newly remastered from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. One of Latin music’s most formidable duos, salsa pioneers Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe were teenagers when they began working together under Fania Records. Known as “El Cantante,” Lavoe was one of the great interpreters of salsa music, revered for his bright vocals, seamless phrasing and witty, ad-libbed anecdotes. Colón, meanwhile, quickly became a key figure in the scene, who shaped the sound of salsa on and off stage as a trombonist, composer, producer and leader of his namesake orchestra. Together, Colón and Lavoe defined one of Latin music’s most exciting eras through 11 legendary albums, beginning with the 1967 salsa and boogaloo classic, El Malo. Released in 1970, La Gran Fuga offered one of Colón’s most iconic album covers, in which designer Izzy Sanabria took inspiration from Colón’s “Malo” alter-ego, creating an FBI wanted poster, with the bandleader’s mugshot. In this case, however, “FBI” stood for “Freaks of Bureau Investigation.” After promotional posters were spotted throughout New York City, however, the real FBI requested that the “Wanted by FBI” text be removed. Despite the controversy, La Gran Fuga proved to be an enormous success, earning a Gold certification by the RIAA and plenty of accolades.