"The Ansonia Years" gathers the best recordings made by Rafael Cortijo, one of the major Puerto Rican figures of Latin music, for Ansonia Records during 1969 and 1971. Taken from the albums "Noche de temporal", "Ritmos y cantos callejeros" and "Volumen 2", he is accompanied by other key artists such as Kako, Chivirico, Ismael Rivera and Javier Vazquez took Afro-Puerto Rican traditions to the most prestigious Latin ballrooms of the period, making him the architect of an Afro-Caribbean and Puerto Rican salsa style, coming from the street corner but different from the New York tradition. He was a cultural hero who brought a host of dazzling nuances to his three recordings on the Ansonia label. Most tracks reissued for the first time.