Ray Barretto
b. 29 April 1929, Brooklyn, New York City, of Puerto Rican parentage. Barretto, raised in East Harlem and the Bronx, has been a prominent Latin bandleader for three decades. However, he started his professional career even earlier as a jazz recording session conga player. To escape the ghetto he joined the army at 17. Influenced by a record of Dizzy Gillespie with conguero Chano Pozo, Ray started to sit in on jam sessions held at the Orlando, a GI jazz club in Munich, Germany. After military service he returned to Harlem and attended more jam sessions, studied percussion and rediscovered his Latin roots. From then on he retained a foot in both the jazz and Latin camps. Barretto jammed with Charlie Parker, Max Roach, Art Blakey and other jazz giants and recorded with Lou Donaldson, Gene Ammons, Red Garland, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Dizzy, Cannonball Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, Cal Tjader, Sonny Stitt and others. He has also sessioned with The Rolling Stones, Average White Band, Bee Gees and Bette Midler. 
Ray's first regular job was with Eddie Bonnemere's Latin Jazz Combo followed by two years with Cuban bandleader/pianist José Curbelo. In 1957 he replaced Mongo Santamaría in Tito Puente's band, the night before the recording of DANCE MANIA, Puente's classic and best-selling album. After four years with Puente, he did a brief four-month stint with Herbie Mann. Barretto got his first leadership opportunity in 1961 when Orrin Keepnews of Riverside Records, who knew Ray through his jazz work, asked him to form a charanga (a flute and violin band, which were all the rage at the time) for a recording date. The outcome was the album PACHANGA WITH BARRETTO, followed by the Latin jam LATINO (1962), on which Barretto's charanga was augmented by tenor saxophonist José ‘Chombo’ Silva and trumpeter Alejandro ‘El Negro’ Vivar (1923-79), both graduates of the historical '50s CUBAN JAM SESSION albums on the Panart label. LATINO contained the outstanding descarga (jam session) Cocinando Suave, described by Barretto as ‘ … one of those slow burners’ and cited by Chombo as one of his favourite recordings (both quoted by Latin music historian Max Salazar). 
In 1962, Ray switched to the Tico label and released the album CHARANGA MODERNA. The track El Watusi reached the Top 20 US pop chart in 1963 and sold a million. ‘After El Watusi, I was neither fish nor fowl—neither a good Latin nor good pop artist’, he was to say later. His next eight albums between 1963 and 1966 thrashed around in various directions and consistently eluded commercial success. The musical merit of some of his recorded work from this period was not appreciated until years later. His fortunes changed when he signed to Fania Records in 1967. He dropped violins for an all brass frontline and made the R&B and jazz flavoured ACID, which won him major popularity amongst Latin audiences for the first time. Barretto's next nine albums on Fania between 1968 and 1975 were increasingly successful, the only body-blow being in late 1972 when his vocalist since 1966, Adalberto Santiago, and four other band members left to found Tipica 73. The title track of his 1973 INDESTRUCTIBLE was aimed at his ex-accompanists, replacement lead vocalist Tito Allen sang of a blood transfusion making Barretto indestructible to any harm and Ray is pictured as Clark Kent revealing his Superman costume on the album sleeve. His 1975 album BARRETTO, with vocalists Rubén Blades and Tito Gómez (see Papo Lucca Nati and Grupo Niche), was his biggest seller to date. It contained the prize-winning hit Guarare and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1976. He was also voted ‘Best Conga Player of the Year’ for 1975 and 1976 in Latin NY Magazine annual poll. Meanwhile Barretto had tired of gruelling daily night-club gigging and felt that clubs stifled creativity and gave no room for experimentation. He was also pessimistic that pure salsa could crossover to a wider audience. So on New Year's Eve 1975, he played his last date with his salsa band. They continued under the name Guarare and released three albums—GUARARE (1977), GUARARE (1979) and ONDA TÍPICA (1981). 
Barretto organized a fusion orientated concert band. An agreement was struck between Fania and Atlantic Records and the first release on his new label was BARRETTO LIVE (TOMORROW), a two disc recording of his successful debut concert at the Beacon Theatre, New York in May 1976. Ray's 1977 and 1978 albums were his last on Atlantic. However, he still managed to win the Latin NY titles for ‘Musician of the Year’ and ‘Best Conga Player of Year’ in October 1977. His fusion band turned out to be a commercial flop, as he injured a hand and was unable to play for a while. In 1979 he went back to Fania and reunited with Adalberto Santiago to produce RICAN/STRUCTION, a return to progressive salsa. The album was a smash hit and won him the 1980 Latin NY titles for ‘Album of the Year’, ‘Musician of the Year’ and Best Conga Player. Two albums GIANT FORCE/FUERZA GIGANTE (1980) and Rhythm of Life/Ritmo de la Vida(1982) featured the impressive voice of ex-Guarare lead singer, Ray de la Paz (see Louie Ramírez) and talented young New York-born Latino trombonist, Joe de Jesús. After touring with David Byrne in 1989 and 1990, de Jesús settled in London with his British wife. 
In 1983, Barretto teamed up with Celia Cruz and Adalberto to make the highly successful TREMENDO TRIO!, which won an ACE (The Hispanic Association of Entertainment Critics of New York) Award for ‘Salsa Album of the Year’. The superb TODO SE VÁ PODER (1984) and AQUÍ SE PUEDE (1987) included ex-Los Kimy singer Ray Saba (aka Del Rey Xaba) on lead vocals. Barretto and Cruz's second collaboration RITMO EN EL CORAZÓN, released at the end of 1988 and issued in the UK on the Caliente label in 1989, won them a Grammy Award in 1990. He joined the salsa romántica bandwagon with the weak album IRRESISTIBLE (1989), his last on Fania. Saba, who only sang in the chorus on Barretto's 1988 and 1989 albums, launched a solo career with the album NECESITO UNA MIRADA TUYA (1990) produced by former Los Kimy leader, Kimmy Solis. Since the late '80s Ray has also been leading a Latin jazz band on the New York club circuit. On 30 August 1990, to mark his long-standing involvement in both jazz and Latin music, Barretto appeared with Adalberto and Puerto Rican trumpeter Juancito Torres at a tribute concert titled ‘Las 2 Vidas de Ray Barretto’(The Two Lives of Ray Barretto) at the University of Puerto Rico. He switched to Concord Picante for the 1991 Latin jazz set HANDPRINTS. However, he promises future salsa albums. 
He has been a member of the Fania All-Stars since their inception in 1968 and appeared with them in the UK in 1976. His various international tours included UK appearances in 1982, 1986 and 1987.