Artist:Ray Barretto
Song:Son Con Cuero
Album:Hard Hands
Percussionist Ray Barretto is one of the all time greats of Latin jazz. He played on hundreds of sessions and was equally comfortable making commercial Latin music and adventurous jazz. He was born Apr. 29, 1929 in Brooklyn, NY and was of Puerto Rican descent. He took up congas while in the US Army in Germany. He spent four years in Tito Puente's band starting in the late 50s. He started recording as a leader in 1962 and had a crossover pop hit in 1963 with El Watusi on Tico Records. But he made his name playing on sessions in the mid 60s. He switched to Fania in 1967 and was musical director of the Fania All Stars. His solo records took a jazz oriented turn. Hard Hands is from 1968 and is fairly typical of Barretto's music at that time, a combination of popular Latin rhythms and jazz. Occasionally Barretto would try to incorporate rock or funk into his music but wasn't too successful. You may recall seeing him in that Sun City benefit video back in the 80s. He continued to tour and make great records until his death on Feb. 17, 2006 at age 76. Here's Ray Barretto performing Son Con Cuero with Ruben Blades on lead vocals & Art Webb on flute on a 1975 PBS TV show.
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