Effective period / Period of releases: 1971 - 2002

Members: Raphy Leavitt, Sammy Marrero, Jimmy Sanchez (4), Richard Lopez (3), Osvaldo Diaz, Antonio (Pipo) Garcia, Carlos Ramirez (13), Rafael Delgado (2)

Puerto Rican Salsa Orchestra. In 1970, Raphy Leavitt organized an orchestra that had to have a different sound and style. He wanted to select the repertoire of songs of the orchestra with a particular, positive, social and even philosophical message; he arranged the sound of his new band in terms of sounding as raw and powerful as the typical all-trombone salsa sound in vogue at the time (popularized by Willie Colón), but with the addition of trumpets for give it more elegance. He composed some of the songs for this new group, which he called "La Selecta"