Barretto's
parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico in the early
1920s, looking for a better life. The family last name
is "Barreto"; a mistake at the time Ray's
birth certificate was filed gave his last name its formal
spelling. He was raised in Spanish Harlem and at a very
young age was influenced by his mother's love of music
and by the jazz music of musicians such as Duke Ellington
and Count Basie.
In
1946, when Barretto was 17 years old, he joined the
Army. While stationed in Germany, Barretto met Belgium
vibist Fats Sadi, who was working there. However, it
was when he heard Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca"
with Cuban percussionist, Chano Pozo, that he realized
his true calling in life.In 1949, when Barretto returned
home from the service, he started to visit clubs and
participated in jam sessions, where he perfected his
conga playing. On one occasion Charlie Parker heard
Barretto play and invited him to play in his band. Later,
he was asked to play for Jose Curbelo and Tito Puente,
for whom he played for four years. Barretto developed
a unique style of playing the conga and soon he was
sought by other jazz band leaders. Latin percussionists
started to appear in jazz groups with frequency as a
consequence of Barretto's musical influence.In 1960,
Barretto was a house musician for the Prestige, Blue
Note, and Riverside labels.
New
York had become the center of Latin music in the United
States and a style called "Charanga" was the
Latin music craze of the time.In 1961, Barretto recorded
his first hit, "El Watusi", the first Latin
song to enter the Billboard charts. He was quite successful
with the song and the genre, to the point of being typecasted
(something that he disliked). In 1967, he joined the
Fania record label where he recorded "Acid",
an experiment joining rhythm and blues with Latin music.
Just as his salsa group attained a remarkable following
most of its members left it to form Tipica 73, a multinational
salsa conglomerate. This left Barretto depressed and
disappointed with salsa; he then redirected his efforts
into Latin jazz, while remaining as musical director
of the Fania All Stars. Barretto's 1968 album Acid contained
the song "Deeper Shade of Soul", which was
sampled for the 1991 US (#21) hit of the same name by
Dutch band Urban Dance Squad.Barretto played the conga
in recording sessions for the Rolling Stones and the
Bee Gees. In 1975 he was nominated for a Grammy Award
for the song "Barretto". From 1976 to 1978,
Barretto recorded three records for Atlantic Records,
including "La Cuna", and was nominated for
a Grammy for "Barretto Live...Tomorrow". In
1979, he produced a salsa record for Fania, titled "Ricanstruction",
which was named 1980 "Best Album" by Latin
N.Y. Magazine, with Barretto crowned as Conga Player
of the Year.In 1990, Barretto finally won a Grammy for
the album "Ritmo en el Corazon" (Rhythm in
the Heart), which featured the vocals of Celia Cruz.
In 1999, Barretto was inducted into the International
Latin Music Hall of Fame.Barretto lived in New York
and was an active musical producer, as well as the leader
of a touring band which has embarked in tours of the
United States, Europe, Israel and Latin America. Barreto
died 17 February 2006 at the Hackensack University Hospital
of multiple health complications. His body was flown
to Puerto Rico, where Barretto was given formal honors
by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture; his remains
were eventually cremated.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barretto
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