When I got the news that Ray Barretto had been taken from us February 17, I cried. And then I went back to the music. Ray was born April 29, 1929, in Brooklyn, then moved with his family at an early ...

Few would argue that a prime place to start in a new or renewed appreciation of Ray Barretto would have to be 1972’s Que Viva La Music, with Craft’s recent 50th Anniversary edition pushing all the ...

When Ray and I first met and played together in the Fall of 1955 at the Monday night sessions at the 125 club in Harlem, Ray was the only conga player and I was the only French horn player who always ...

Ray’s ashes will be divided and scattered over New York and Puerto Rico–fitting for a man whose double life bridged Latinamericana and jazz. The Barretto family is naming a foundation to help ...