Eye Of The Beholder Ray Barretto

• 1 Here We Go Again 05:02
• 2 Senor Funk 04:43
• 3 Eye Of The Beholder 04:25
• 4 Salsa Con Fusion 06:11
• 5 Numero Uno 04:48
• 6 Expresso 04:06
• 7 Leti 06:59
• 8 Tumbao Africano 04:31
• Total Runtime 40:45

Info for Eye Of The Beholder

Aleading force in contemporary Latin music for more than four decades, percussionist/bandleader Ray Barretto has helped define and popularize salsa, the distinctive blend of traditional Latin dance music and American jazz. Along the way, Barretto’s musical interests progressed from dance music to pure jazz. To the conga player, best known for his propulsive style as a performer, it was just part of a natural evolution. "It was time to move on," he told an interviewer for San Francisco/Bay Area Salsa & Latin Jazz Online. "The Latin dance music changed, and I don’t think for the better. It became very fluffy and corny, with little substance. So it came a time where I realized I had to take the next step."

Ray Barretto, Percussion & Congas
Ray Gomez, Lead Guitar
Jeff Berlin, Bass
Wilton Felder, Bass
Steve Ferrone, Drums
Terry Bozzio, Drums
Ángel "Cachete" Maldonado, Drums
Barry Finnerty, Guitar
Marcus Fiorillo, Guitar
Eddie Martines, Keyboards
Gil Goldstein, Keyboards
Joe Sample, Keyboards
Clif Carter, Synthesizer
Rafael Cruz, Percussion
Jimmy Delgado, Timbales
Pete Christalieb, Tenor Saxophone
Todd Anderson, Tenor Saxophone
Bill Green, Baritone & Soprano Saxophones
Roger Rosenberg, Baritone & Soprano Saxophones
Garnett Brown, Trombone
Reinaldo Jorge, Trombone
Gene Arnold Goe, Trumpet
Luis "Perico" Ortiz, Trumpet

Producer by Stix Hooper, Joe Sample and Wilton Felder
Recorded at Hollywood Sond Studios, Hollywood, California, except A1, A4 recorded at Atlantic Studios, New York, New York.

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.