The concept for creating Orquesta ClaraSalsa began from New York City in 1997, when bandleader Jorge Laureano’s vision of a contemporary Salsa orchestra led to the recruitment of several key people…He began by first recruiting his vocal team, starting with singer Lee Malavet, who already possessed a solid track history, having worked on such bands as “Louis George and the Salsa Gang”, Conjunto Imagen and Orquesta Siempre Asi. To complete his vocal trio he also added journeyman Frank Seguinot, who had worked with Johhny Almendra y Los Jovenes del Barrio, Jimmy Bosch’s orchestra and Orquesta La Ley. The three would then become the voices for “ClaraSalsa”…

Jorge concentrated next on building the band’s musical repertoire by hiring some of the leading musical arrangers in the Latin music industry, who could set forth his concept of combining contemporary sounds, along with a hardcore “old school” feel that dancers enjoy so much! For that task, he hired “Fania Records” legendary pianist Mr. Luisito Cruz, bassist Ray Martinez, timbalero Pablo “Chino” Nunez and trombonist, Charlie Garcia.

After several shows and much acceptance from the dance audiences they so much entertained, the group was then ready to take on the next step, recording a CD! Unfortunately, the tragedy of 9-11-2001 put a halt on any creative ideas they had at the time. It wasn’t until 2004 that they finally had an opportunity to send off their first recording entitled…”Baila Con Ella”

The CD “Baila Con Ella” brought ClaraSalsa much critical acclaim on several industry leading magazines, with some of these songs reaching the top levels on Salsa HIT charts all around the world!

In 2006, Jorge Laureano and Lee Malavet found themselves relocating to the Tampa Bay area of Florida where they once again put together a solid orchestra by recruiting the best musicians Tampa had to offer…