Barretto (Remastered 2025) Ray Barretto

• 1 Guararé (Remastered 2025) 05:38
• 2 Vine pa' Echar Candela (Remastered 2025) 05:50
• 3 Eso Es Amar (Remastered 2025) 04:18
• 4 Ban Ban Queré (Remastered 2025) 05:33
• 5 Vale Más un Guaguancó (Remastered 2025) 04:22
• 6 Testigo Fui (Remastered 2025) 05:00
• 7 El Presupuesto (Remastered 2025) 04:32
• 8 Canto Abacuá (Remastered 2025) 08:16
• Total Runtime 43:29

Info for Barretto (Remastered 2025)

One of master conguero and bandleader Ray Barretto’s finest albums titled Barretto, and the follow-up to his triumphant Indestructible album, this newly mastered reissue celebrates the 50th anniversary of Barretto. Listeners will enjoy flavorful salsa classics like the opener “Guararé” the rumba-son “Ban ban queré” and the Rubén Blades composition “Canto Abacuá.”

The year was 1975. Approaching bankruptcy and reeking of political corruption, New York City was kept alive by the explosive sounds of Afro-Caribbean music. Fania Records had established itself as a powerhouse in the music industry by catering to a niche audience of fans who loved to mambo and now called this music salsa. Local bandleaders became international superstars. One of these bandleaders was Brooklyn born and Bronx bred Nuyorican Ray Barretto, who had developed a reputation as a superb conguero in the world of jazz, and as a sideman with artists like José Curbelo and Tito Puente.

It was through his recordings for the Fania label, however, that Barretto would achieve the kind of status that few would have thought possible in the South Bronx neighborhood where he grew up. “At Fania, we were treated like rock stars,” said Barretto. “Jerry Masucci approached the promotion of his recordings the way major mainstream companies promoted rock and pop.” One of the conguero’s finest albums, Barretto showcased the talent of a young singer and composer from Panama, Rubén Blades. The band had been reconstructed, because most of Barretto’s musicians had abandoned him following the release of Que Viva La Musica. He reacted by forming a new band and recording the jazz album The Other Road. With the help of trumpet player Papy Román, Barretto would produce the triumphant Indestructible album, reconfirming his popularity with the dance crowd. Barretto is the follow-up album to Indestructible, showcasing Ray as a bandleader who made music that was swinging and hip at the same time. Penned by Pedro Speck, the opening track “Guararé” was originally an uptempo changüí tune from the Guantanamo region of Eastern Cuba. Barretto chose to slow down the tempo, retaining the humorous lyrical content and flavor of a guaracha. The arrangement by pianist Gil López (an old Barretto bandmate from his Tito Puente days) transformed “Guararé” from an obscure tune of Cuban folklore into a salsa mega-hit. It also made Puerto Rican singer Tito Gómez synonymous with son. “Vine Pa’ Echar Candela” exudes Barretto’s love for one of his heroes, the legendary Arsenio Rodríguez, in a rugged son montuno style. Arranger Eddie Martínez provided the lush backdrop that marks Rubén Blades’ initial appearance on this disc.

Penned by Blades, “Eso Es Amar” proves that Barretto was not afraid to tackle bolero material. Calixto Viera’s rumba-son “Ban Ban Quere,” on the other hand, demonstrates his progressive approach – listen to the band’s futuristic accompaniment during Artie Webb‘s flute solo. From the Tite Curet Alonso songbook, “Vale Más Un Guaguancó” and “Testigo Fui” are performed by Blades and Gómez respectively. The first one talks about the love of rhythm. The second one is an ode to Puerto Rico and its people. Trumpet player Roberto Rodriguez contributed the charanga style swinger “El Presupuesto,” which deals with the fact that one’s paycheck buys less than it used to in the modern world. But the ultimate music gem on this album is the Blades composition “Canto Abacuá” that closes the album. A song about Cuba’s fraternal secret order and religion, it opens with a percussive dialogue between Barretto and Ray Romero that segues into a rumba abierta and then an avant-garde flute solo. The piece builds up to a stunning mambo, featuring one of the most celebrated piano solos in the history of salsa, courtesy of Gil López. 1975 was a pivotal year, as the Latin music industry showed that it could grow commercially while retaining its integrity and embracing progressive new ideas. There is no better example of this tendency than the album known simply as Barretto.

Ray Barretto, drums, congas, percussion
Ruben Blades, vocals, background vocals
Tito Gomez, vocals, background vocals
Adalberto Santiago, coro
Tito Gomez, coro
Gil Lopez, piano, Fender Rhodes, electric piano
Artie Webb, flute
Roberto Rodriguez, trumpet
Joseph “Papy” Román, trumpet
Ite Erez, trumpet
Ray Romero, timbales, quinto
Tony Fuentes, bongos
Louie Colón, bass

Digitally remastered

The most widely recorded conguero in jazz, Ray Barretto grew up listening to the music of Puerto Rico and the swing bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman. Barretto credited Dizzy Gillespie's recording of "Manteca," featuring conguero Chano Pozo, with his decision to become a professional musician.

He first sat in on jam sessions at the Orlando, a G.I. jazz club in Munich. In 1949, after military service, he returned to Harlem and taught himself to play the drums, getting his first regular job with Eddie Bonnemere's Latin Jazz Combo. Barretto then played for four years with Cuban bandleader/pianist José Curbelo. In 1957, he replaced Mongo Santamaria in Tito Puente's band, with which he recorded his first album, Dance Mania. After four years with Puente, he was one of the most sought-after percussionists in New York,attending jam sessions with artists including Max Roach and Art Blakey and recording with Sonny Stitt, Lou Donaldson, Red Garland, Gene Ammons, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, Cal Tjader, and Dizzy Gillespie. Barretto was so much in demand that in 1960 he was a house musician for the Prestige, Blue Note, and Riverside record labels.

Barretto's first job as a bandleader came in 1961, when Riverside producer Orrin Keepnews asked him to form a charanga for a recording, Pachanga With Barretto. His next album, Charanga Moderna, featured "El Watusi," which became the first Latin number to penetrate Billboard's Top-20 chart. In 1963, "El Watusi" went gold. In 1975 and 1976, Barretto earned back-to-back Grammy nominations for his albums Barretto (with the prize-winning hit "Guarere") and Barretto Live…Tomorrow. His 1979 album for Fania, Rican/Struction, considered a classic of salsa, was named Best Album (1980) by Latin N.Y. magazine, and Barretto was named Conga Player of the Year. He won a Grammy Award in 1990 for the song "Ritmo en el Corazon" with Celia Cruz.

Barretto was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 1999. He was voted Jazz Percussionist of 2004 by the Jazz Journalists Association and won the DownBeat critics' poll for percussion in 2005. His recording Time Was, Time Is was nominated for a 2005 Grammy Award.

This album contains no booklet.