Luis Salinas is an Argentine jazz guitarist who plays both electric and nylon string guitars. His music includes elements of bossa nova, Brazilian samba, Afro-Uruguayan candombe, salsa, boleros and jazz. He blends traditional South American musical forms with improvisational modern jazz. Luis worked for Egle Martin, a well known Argentinean singer, dancer, and producer from 1985 to 1991 and played on her bossa-nova album "El Arte Del Encuentro." In 1993, Swedish pianist Anders Person invited Luis to play at the Umea Jazz festival, followed by a small tour of Sweden. Luis was signed by the GRP Records in 1995, and recorded his debut album Salinas for that label in March 1996 with various musicians from George Benson's group. Luis played at the 30th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival. Judith Schlesinger writing in All Music Guide describes the track "Blue Zamba" on his debut album as "a lovely solo track that belongs squarely in the tradition of the great Latin acoustic players, but with a whiff of Joe Pass as well. All told, a very promising debut."

On August 22, 1997 Luis Salinas played to 30,000 concert-goers at the "Palabra de Guitarra Latina" show in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. One week later, at the Guitarras del Mundo festival in Buenos Aires (August 26–31), Salinas was one of main attractions, playing three concerts at Buenos Aires' La Trastienda Club.