Bandleader/conga player Ray Barretto continued to assert himself as one of the premier mainstream salsa catalysts of the early '70s with one of his most celebrated albums. Barretto, bass player Andy Gonzalez, pianist/arranger Louis Cruz, timbales master Orestes Vilató, and bongo player Johnny Rodríguez contribute to the band's tough rhythm section; of course, vocalist Adalberto Santiago is a knockout on tunes like the hilarious "Se Traba" and the memorable "Alma Con Alma." One of Barretto's top albums of the 1970s and another example of what made New York salsa so special.

A 1968 album with Barretto in midst of his most productive period. He had made inroads into pop and jazz markets and was a dominant figure on the Latin jazz and salsa circuit. The album not only provided the great conga player and percussionist with a nickname, it yielded hit single "Abidjan" and also brought personnel changes. Joseph Roman replaced Rene Lopez on trumpet (he'd been drafted), and Tony Fuentes joined the group on bongos.

Trancedance is a vibrant and rhythmically engaging Latin jazz album by Ray Barretto & New World Spirit, released in 2000, highlighting Barretto’s masterful conga playing and charismatic leadership. The album blends traditional Latin rhythms with modern jazz harmonies, featuring a diverse ensemble of musicians who bring a rich palette of textures and colors. Each track explores unique rhythmic and melodic landscapes, from energetic grooves to reflective, lyrical passages, showcasing the versatility of both the band and Barretto himself. With contributions from prominent jazz soloists and percussionists, Trancedance delivers intricate interplay, improvisational brilliance, and a dynamic sense of movement, while seamlessly integrating Latin jazz traditions with contemporary sensibilities. The album embodies both technical mastery and soulful expression, offering an immersive and celebratory listening experience that honors Barretto’s enduring influence on jazz and Latin music.

Raymundo "Ray" Barretto Pagán was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Latin jazz. His first hit, "El Watusi", was recorded by his Charanga Moderna in 1962, becoming the most successful pachanga song in the United States. In the late 1960s, Barretto became one of the leading exponents of boogaloo and what would later be known as salsa. Nonetheless, many of Barretto's recordings would remain rooted in more traditional genres such as son cubano. A master of the descarga (improvised jam session), Barretto was a long-time member of the Fania All-Stars. His success continued into the 1970s with songs such as "Cocinando" and "Indestructible". His last album for Fania Records, Soy dichoso, was released in 1990. He then formed the New World Spirit jazz ensemble and continued to tour and record until his death in 2006. He is the father of American vocalist and saxophonist Chris Barretto, best known for being the former singer of progressive metal bands Monuments and Periphery.

30 classic tracks on 2 CDs from the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Ayers, Gretchen Parlato, Flora Purim, Bobby Womack and Sabrina Malheiros.

Ray Barretto's Carnaval combines two 1962 sessions, Pachanga with Barretto (his Milestone label debut as a leader) and Latino!. Both sets feature Barretto's first band, Charanga Moderna, with trumpeter El Negro Vivar and tenor saxophonist Jose Chombo Silva added to the front line for the latter LP. The first album is very much Latin jazz of its time, with all ten tracks designed for dancing the briefly popular pachanga, a dance that was simply too manic and difficult to catch on widely. The pachanga-friendly tempos on these ten brief cuts (most under three minutes) make the album sound rushed and nervous to ears unfamiliar with the dance fad. The far-better Latino!, recorded in nearly the same session, is a good old-fashioned jam session, with more leisurely tempos and extended playing times that give all the soloists – especially Vivar, Silva, and flutist Jose Canoura – plenty of room to stretch out. These two albums are very different, but hearing both of them in proximity reveals much about the state of the New York City Latin jazz scene in the early '60s.

If you wonder (a) why Barretto suddenly has such a hot band, (b) what the two hokey Mexicali cuts are doing mixed in with all the other fine stuff, and © why there are zippo notes, one explanation fits all. This CD, copyright 1994, is a re-release of one of Barretto's long-lost 1960s United Artists recordings. But the music is terrific: a hell of a swing, great solo trumpet.

Ray Barretto's Taboo features a new, smaller version of his New World Spirit ensemble. Hector Martignon, who composes along with Barretto, is still here, as are Satoshi Takeishi, Ray Vega, and Jairo Moreno. Saxophonist Adam Kolker takes the sax chair vacated by Jay Rodriguez, and guitarist Alfredo Gonzales has not been replaced. The material is far jazzier on Taboo. Barretto explored the roots of Latin jazz as it transformed itself into the New York version of son and salsa on 2003's Hot Hands: Ancestral Messages, and Taboo serves as a guidebook to present and future tenses of Latin jazz. For starters, one can read between the lines that Ray Vega's charts have moved far a-field of the standard notions surrounding big band arrangements. Everything here feels fluid and relaxed; the playing leaves spontaneity in the air whether it is on a Barretto or a Martignon original, such as on "Bomba-Riquen," "99 MacDougal St," or something from the hard bop cannon by Nat Adderley and Oscar Brown, Jr., such as the classic "Work Song," or a modal tune like McCoy Tyner's "Effendi".

The 1989 album “Guasasa” is the last studio album for the Fania Six, the Fania All Stars offshoot created in 1976 by Columbia Records for marketing purposes. It features their rhythm section comprised of: Johnny Pacheco, Ray Barretto, Bobby Valentín, Roberto Roena, Nicky Marrero and virtuoso pianist Papo Lucca. Clearly intended as a Latin jazz set, this album actually bears a more dance-oriented style (as in instrumental salsa, so to speak) as opposed to this band’s earlier, bolder California Jam date. While the former date was actually a real jam session, here they work with formal charts, calculated solo spots and a less-relaxed ambience that actually belies the laid-back feel of the album.