A Lady And Her Music: ¡Azucar!

This two-disc compilation is about the best introduction to the astonishing, powerhouse vocalist Celia Cruz that one could ask for. It begins with a string of tracks from her early 1960s collaborations with Tito Puente, which came nearly two decades into her professional career — she began recording in the late 1940s in her native Cuba, getting her big break with La Sonora Matancera in 1950. In the 1970s, she joined the Fania Records family and became a younger audience’s diva/diosa of choice; the nearly 12-minute live version of “Bemba Colorá” here, performed with the Fania All-Stars, will blow the walls of your house down. But she wasn’t just a full-throated force of nature; Cruz could deliver incredibly sensitive and subtle performances, too, always serving the material.