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// Ray Barretto
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Ray Barretto
Born into a Puerto Rican family in New York in 1929, he was just 4 years old when his father decided to abandon his family and go back to Puerto Rico. The following years were difficult ones. His mother worked during the day, studying English in the evening and leaving her two sons alone at home. So, to forget about being alone and that it was dark outside, the two boys listened to the radio. At the time, it was Count Basie or Duke Ellington's orchestras, or even Benny Goodman, who were on the air.
Ray grew up in Brooklyn, spending more time on the street than at school. His adolescence was something of a rough version of West Side Story. Ray joined the army to avoid turning into a hoodlum. He was sixteen and the war was on. He was sent to Germany in a contingent where racial segregation was enforced. Despised by the whites, the young Puerto Rican American hung out with the African-Americans in his regiment who ran a jazz club where Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Max Roach, Lou Donaldson came to play. One evening, Ray Barretto got hold of a banjo and improvised a percussion solo on the instrument's resonance chamber. Which is how this legendary salsero started his career: in the heat of action, in a jazz club in Germany in 1946.
He left the army, went back to New York and began to frequent Harlem's jam sessions. In a short time he became THE Latino percussionist of numerous jazz musicians and the prestigious record Blue Note, Riverside and Prestige.
Becoming increasingly well known, Ray Barretto returned to his roots, enveloping himself in Latin music. During the 1970s he recorded some of the most legendary records in the history of Salsa (particularly the fabulous Acid in 1972). He was one of the pillars of the famous group Fania All Stars, a gathering of the greatest Salsa stars on the Fania record label, recording with Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, Johnny Pacheco, Ruben Blades… He even played percussion on a track by Crosby, Stills & Nash.
In his later career he dedicated himself to Latin jazz, often disappointing his faithful fans. No matter. He lived for his music and his inventiveness and enthusiasm were still intact when he died in 2006, aged 76.
// ALSO
- Paris March 2000
- Celia Cruz
- Eddie Palmieri
- Fania Records, Fania Records // Back to El Barrio
- Calle 13
- WOMAD at the TOWER OF LONDON 19 & 20 September 2009 - win tickets!
- Singer Lhasa dies
- Andrés 'El Jíbaro' Jiménez, Andrés 'El Jíbaro' Jiménez - Puerto Rico's folk music icon
- From Mambo to Hip Hop, A South Bronx Tale
// DISCOGRAPHY
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Master of Percussion Vol.4 (Album)
Portraits in jazz and clave (Album)// LINKS
RELATED ARTISTS
>> Jimmy Bosch
>> Miguel 'Angá' Díaz
>> Fania All Stars
>> Rubén Blades
REPORTS
>> Soul Power
>> From Mambo to Hip Hop
>> Fania Records
// POST A COMMENT
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Fania
05/10/2008
L'album "Acid" de Ray Barretto a été en fait enregistré au cours de l"année 1967 (et non en 1972)... Ce qui en fait d'ailleurs, encore plus, un album Mythique !!! Cordialement
titi
21/09/2009
Puis-je avoir les origine de RAY Barretto ?
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