Grupo Niche
Emanating from Cali, Colombia, Grupo Niche are led by Jairo Varela, whose many roles include: composer, arranger, musical director, vocalist and percussionist. They made their recording debut in 1981 with QUERER ES PODER. Tomek (the UK salsa broadcaster) reviewed the impact of the band's first decade: ‘Who would have said barely 10 years ago that there would be half a dozen salsa bands in Colombia challenging the very best from Puerto Rico and New York? If one man can be responsible, it is Jairo Varela, whose body of work with Niche is the single most impressive songwriting and arranging achievement in salsa during the '80s. A musical illiterate, he has developed his own, inimitable sound by sheer talent. Others have had to transcribe his brilliant ideas. Many of the original Niche were related to the musicians in and took inspiration from Combo Vacana, the seminal Colombian coastal band of the '60s. Fittingly Niche's own achievements have fuelled the current salsa boom in Colombia’. For their albums between 1981 and 1986, Niche's salsa orquesta instrumentation included a front-line of saxophone, flute, two or three trumpets and one or two trombones, a rhythm section (timbales, conga, bongo, güiro, maracas, bass, piano) and voices (lead and chorus). On the first two albums, Varela and trombonist Alexis Lozano shared musical direction and arranging chores. QUERER ES PODER featured a trio of lead singers: Alvaro del Castillo, Homer Tuto Jiménez and La Coco Lozano (Alexis's sister). Tuto and La Coco departed. Oscar Alberto Abueta shared lead vocals with del Castillo on the 1982 follow-up PREPARATE…GRUPO NICHE VOL.2. Abueta left and relocated to Miami (see Alberto ‘El Conejo’ Barros). Tuto returned to replace him on 1983's NICHE (aka DIRECTO DESDE NEW YORK). Tres, a Cuban six or nine-string guitar, was added to the band. Varela became the sole musical director on NICHEand remained so on the following six albums released between 1984 and 1988. Lozano played trombone and co-arranged (with Varela) on the record; he departed to found and lead Orquesta Guayacán, whose releases include: LLEGO LA HORA DE LA VERDAD (1986), QUE LA SANGRE ALBOROTA (1987), GUAYACÁN ES LA ORQUESTA (1988), LA MAS BELLA (1990), 5 AÑOS: AFERRADOS AL SABOR (1991). 
After NICHE, del Castillo left to record as a solo artist, releasing AL PUERTO (1985), LLEGAMOS! (1986), BUENO Y MÁS! (1987), QUE SE AGUANTE EL MUNDO (1991). Tuto also departed and appeared on the 1987 and 1988 albums by La Cali Charanga. 
Moncho Santana sang lead vocals on NO HAY QUINTO MALO (1984) and SE PASÓ! (1985, aka TRIUNFO); the former contained Niche's anthem Cali Pachanguero (Partying Cali). Varela's arrangements were transcribed by pianist and founder member, Nicolás Cristancho Macabí, on both albums. Alberto Barros played trombone and shared the task of transcription with Macabí on SE PASÓ!and ME HUELE A MATRIMONIO (1986). Santana left after SE PASÓ!and recorded with Grupo Star and Manuel Bravo y su Orquesta Palenque ( SALSA FELINA, 1988), before making his solo debut with AQUI ESTOY! in 1990. Puerto Rican Tito Gómez (see Papo Lucca, Ray Barretto and Nati) joined Niche as co-lead singer on ME HUELE A MATRIMONIO. Niche and Gómez's voice, with its melancholic catch, blended splendidly. Macabí left after 1986's GRUPO NICHE CON CUERDAS to become a regular accompanist with Alberto Barros's Los Titanes as well as a busy session musician. He was replaced by Alvaro Cabarcas Pelusa on the double HISTORIA MUSICAL in 1987, which contained re-recordings and re-arrangements of songs from Niche's previous albums. Sadly, Varela dropped saxophone and flute from the line-up on this and further albums. Venezuelan César Monge, former musical director, arranger and trombonist with Dimensión Latina, was hired to play and transcribe for the rejigged Niche, which sported a front-line of two trombones and two trumpets only. 
Most of the band split from Varela after HISTORIA MUSICAL and adopted the name Orquesta Internacional Los Niches, with trumpeter Fabio Espinoza Jnr. as their musical director. They made their UK debut in 1988 with Moncho Santana on lead vocals. Young pianist/arranger/composer Danilo Danny Rosales handled TOCANDO MADERA's production, and contributed arrangements and songs; he worked on albums by other bands, including Grupo Contraste, Hermes Manyoma y su Orquesta La Ley, La Gran Banda Caleña, Formula 8 and La Octava Dimensión. Rosales leads Grupo Changó, for which he and his bassist/arranger/composer brother, Ricardo, share the role of musical director; the band's releases include: CON TODO! (1988) and SENSACIONES EN SALSA (1990). In 1990 Los Niches issued SALSA POR SIEMPRE. Varela continued with the name Grupo Niche and substantially new personnel. Gómez, Monge and Cabarcas were the only pre-split members who remained with him on 1988's TAPANDO EL HUECO, which was up to Varela's usual high creative and imaginative standard. The Miami recorded album featured veteran Cuban bassist Israel ‘Cachao’ Lópezand Colombians Diego Galé, percussion, and trombonist Morist Jiménez, who played alongside Monge in the horn section of three trombones and one trumpet. Tres was dropped from the line-up. Multi-talented Galé sessions extensively; he acted as musical director on Grupo Caneo's debut ELLA (1989), and now leads his own band, Grupo Galé, whose releases include: FRIVOLO (1989) and NUESTRA SALSA (1990). 
Jiménez shared direction with Varela and played all three parts in the trombone only front-line on the slightly disappointing SUTIL Y CONTUNDENTE in 1989. Javier Vásquez (not to be confused with the veteran Cuban bandleader/pianist/arranger Javier Vázquez) joined Gómez and Varela as a lead singer on the album. Varela and Grupo Niche, featuring Gómez and Jiménez, made their UK debut in October 1989. Jiménez departed; he sessions widely and released the solo ESPECTACULAR in 1989. Gómez left and Vásquez was joined by co-lead vocalists Charlie Cardona and Ricardo Valdez (who doubled on synthesizer) on 1990's CIELO DE TAMBORES, recorded in Varela's own Niche Professional Studios in Cali.y confirmed Varela's status. Trombonist/bassist/arranger/vocalist Andrés Viáfara, who played on HISTORIA MUSICAL and was amongst those who defected to Los Niches, came back to co-arrange and co-direct with Varela. Viáfara, who also worked in Alvaro del Castillo's Orquesta La Calentura and with José Harbey Caicedo, played alongside Monge in the brass section of three trombones and two trumpets. Varela delegated the writing of two arrangements to New York arranger/producer/keyboardist Sergio George. Tito Gómez returned to Puerto Rico where he recorded the solo UN NUEVO HORIZONTE (1991). The album was a Top 10 hit in the Billboard tropical/salsa chart and contained the Puerto Rican number 1 hit single Dejala, on which Gómez sang a duet with salsa romántica star Tito Rojas. By way of belated recognition of Colombian salsa's growing popularity by the traditionally New York and Puerto Rico-dominated US salsa industry, Niche, along with their compatriot Joe Arroyo, were included on the bill of the 14th annual New York Salsa Festival in 1989, 1990 and 1991.