La Excelencia is co-owned by Julian Silva and Jose Vazquez-Cofresi who in 2005 formed the orchestra in New York City. The orchestra was created with the intention to bring a new outlook to salsa music by being hip, young, writing about social issues, and breaking the mold yet not losing the true roots of salsa. The hard life of the barrio is reflected in La Excelencia music through their hardcore salsa sounds known as `salsa dura'. The music of La Excelencia has been referred to as fresh, original, danceable, contagious, and bringing social awareness to all.
In 2006 La Excelencia released their freshman project 'Salsa Con Conciencia' which was highly received through out the world. 'Salsa Con Conciencia' sold over 9000 units without major distribution. The entire CD 'Salsa con Conciencia' and two singles from the CD "La Salsa y el Guaguanco" and "La Lucha" were chosen to be voted on by the Latin Grammy's and The Grammy's making it as far as the second round. La Excelencia's music can be found on countless salsa/world music compilations, motions pictures, instructional DVDs, and can also be heard on radio stations and satellite radio both nationally and internationally.
With the immediate success of 'Salsa Con Conciencia', La Excelencia began touring extensively headlining some of the top festivals, venues, salsa congresses, and performance art centers around the world. On tour La Excelencia has sold-out venues at maximum capacity and continues to build momentum by garnering a loyal fan base worldwide. A few of the events La Excelencia has performed at are, The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (USA), The Afro-Latino Festival (Belgium), New York International Salsa Congress (USA), Oslo Kongressenter (Norway), and Lincoln Center for Performing Arts (USA) to name a few.
After much global anticipation on January 2009 La Excelencia released their sophomore CD 'Mi Tumbao Social'. This CD showcases the versatility of La Excelencia and its many talents within the orchestra. Vocalist Edwin Perez and Gilberto Velazquez do a great job of interpreting ten tracks plus the bonus track sung duo by the two young soneros. The critics have claimed 'Mi Tumbao Social' to be one of the best salsa CD's to come out in a long time. Already thousands of CD's have been shipped around the world and the feedback has been bigger then La Excelencia imagined.
As the success of La Excelencia grows so does the orchestras fan base which is quickly making La Excelencia one of the most sought out salsa orchestras in the world. La Excelencia tour schedule continues to reach further and further across the globe so that fans may catch a glimpse of their favorite salsa orchestra. These young salsa ambassadors our bringing the sounds straight from the streets of New York City to the world.
