""We've lost an architect of the New York sound, a trombonist who made metal his banner and wrote enteral chapters in our musical history," he wrote. "Willie didn't just change salsa; he expanded it, politicized it, clothed it in urban chronicles, and took it to stages where it hadn't been heard before. His trombone was the voice of the people, an echo of the Caribbean in New York, a bridge between cultures.""
""Today, one of the legends who contributed to this beautiful and legendary genre passed away," he said in Spanish, as translated by . "The inspiration of so many of these great musicians who left their mark on this earth will never die as long as there are talented young people like those here, keeping the music, salsa and all Caribbean rhythms alive.""
Willie Colón died Saturday, February 21, at age 75, announced by his longtime manager, Pietro Carlos. Colón was born in 1958 in the South Bronx and spent summers in Puerto Rico with his mother's family. He began on trumpet then switched to trombone after hearing Barry Rogers and Mon Rivera. He signed with Fania Records at 16 and released El Malo, launching a career that fused salsa with New York jazz and funk. Major hits included "Ché Ché Colé" and "Aguanile." He collaborated with Celia Cruz, Héctor Lavoe, and Rubén Blades; Siembra remains the top-selling salsa album. Bad Bunny eulogized him in São Paulo, praising his lasting inspiration for younger musicians.
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