Salsa music legend Willie Colón stops by House of Blues this weekend

One of the can’t-miss releases of this spring’s Record Store Day was a deluxe reissue of Willie Colón’s 1971 masterpiece, La Gran Fuga, a defining moment for both New York’s pioneering Fania Records and the burgeoning Nuyorican Salsa scene, one in a string of peerless collaborative albums between Hector Lavoe (immortalized onscreen by Marc Anthony in the film El Cantante) and his musical foil Colón. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of trombonist, composer, arranger, producer and singer Colón to salsa music – whether on his own or in tandem with Lavoe or Rubén Blades or Celia Cruz – from the late 1960s until the present day. Colón has released an impressive stream of influential and vibrant albums like Cosa Nuestra, Celia and Willie, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This night is nothing less than a pilgrimage to witness a titan of dance music.

Saturday, Dec. 1, 8 p.m. | House of Blues, 1490 Buena Vista Drive | 407-934-2583 | houseofblues.com | $57.25