It’s not every day that six of the top ten records on Billboard’s Tropical Albums chart are salsa records. Harlow Marlow Volume 1, released by the duo Harlow Marlow, is the chart’s latest addition, reaching its peak position at No. 7 and currently sitting at No. 10.
But with salsa audiences and music shrinking, what’s especially astonishing is the speed at which the album. Released on March 18, it reached the top ten in less than one week.
And Marlow Rosado, one half of Harlow Marlow, recognizes this is a bit of an anomaly.
“As an ambassador for this genre, [this record’s position on the charts] makes me extremely proud. I am honored and humbled,” said Rosado in a press release.
Harlow Marlow Volume 1 marks Rosado’s fourth album with the duo and first recording of original material in over a decade. Rosado, who primarily worked as a producer, launched his solo career in 2009. Yet it wasn’t until his second solo album Retro, an effort to return to classic salsa, that Rosado saw success as a solo artist. The following year Rosado picked up the Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Album.
And perhaps it was that successful return to original salsa as to why Harlow Marlow works so well together.
Larry Harlow, the other half of Harlow Marlow, is an embodiment of classical salsa. A non-Latino nicknamed “El Judio Maravilloso” (the Marvelous Jew) was a key member of the New York group, Fania All-Stars, a group that helped define U.S. salsa in the 1960s and 1970s. Harlow, a pianist, has a credit line that includes more than 300 albums as a producer and multiple Grammys.
From the impressive critical and popular acclaim the duo have recieved, it seems obvious that thanks to legends like Harlow and Marlow salsa is not going anywhere fast.
Check out their new album now, and be sure to watch for Latin-e’s upcoming interview with Marlow Rosado. And, as always, be sure to follow Latin é for the latest in Latino Entertainment.
