Ray Barretto
Ray Barretto (1929–2006) was a Puerto Rican American conguero and band leader.
The son of Puerto Rican parents, Ray Barretto was born in 1929 in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in East Harlem and the Bronx. Barretto and his siblings grew up listening to Puerto Rican music as well as the swing and jazz bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman.
During his service in World War II, Barretto watched jam sessions at GI bars in Munich and heard new jazz formulations including Dizzy Gillespie’s “Manteca,” featuring Cuban conguero Chano Pozo. These experiences moved Barretto to pursue a career as a professional musician. When he returned from the army in 1949, he taught himself the conga drums.
Soon after, he was playing the congas in bands with Eddie Bonnemere and José Curbelo. His break came in 1957 when he took over for Mongo Santamaría in Tito Puente’s band and appeared on Puente’s 1958 album, Dance Mania. Barretto quickly became one of the top percussionists in New York City. However, the conga drum was considered a mere accessory to large musical ensembles and Barretto rarely toured with musicians.
Flyer advertising an evening of jazz at NYU Loeb Student Center, 1976
In the early 1960s, Barretto formed his own band and they experimented with pachanga fads originating in Cuba. In 1962, Barretto formed his first ensemble, Charanga La Moderna. They recorded the hit, “El Watusi,” the first Latin record to hit the Billboard top 20. The song was an early form of the boogaloo style of music, which mixed elements of jazz and rock with Cuban sounds.
In 1967, Barretto signed with Fania Records and subsequently replaced his frontline with an all-brass band and put out the R&B record, Acid. Barretto continued to record with Fania, becoming one of the Fania All-Stars, a supergroup formed by the label’s most notable artist. The All-Stars toured Europe, Africa, and Asia in the mid-1970s. He teamed with fellow Fania All-Star Celia Cruz in 1983 for the first of several albums and won a Grammy in 1990 for their song "Ritmo En El Corazon."
Barretto is best-known as a distinguished bandleader and for integrating the conga drum into popular music. His prolific solo career produced more than 50 albums. In 1999, Barretto was inducted into the Latin Music Hall of Fame and he was voted Jazz Percussionist of 2004. He passed away in 2006 at the age of 76.