La Perfecta

One of the best albums released by one of Palmieri's best bands, La Perfecta features 12 crisp, uptempo songs ranging from guajiras to pachangas to sones montuno -- with a cha-cha-cha thrown in for good measure. Palmieri sounds inspired on piano, vocalist Ismael Quintana leads the group well, and the stinging brass section includes major players like Joao Donato on trombone and Willie Matos on trumpet. La Perfecta is an excellent example of early Latin dance before Western fusion became the name of the game.