Ray Barretto

About

Grammy Award winning jazz percussionist Ray Barretto was born in New York City. His Puerto Rican parents raised him in the Spanish Harlem part of Manhattan where Latin music and his mother's love for jazz influenced his taste. After a short term in the Army, during which he heard the Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo play, Barretto returned to New York with a new calling for music. He began visiting night clubs and playing in small jam sessions in the city, when eventually the legendary jazz musician Charles Parker heard him playing and invited Barretto to play in his band. Barretto mastered his own style of playing the conga and was soon sought out by other established Latin and jazz bands. His 1961 hit "El Watusi" became the first Latin song to make the Billboard charts in 1963. Not interested in being type-cast as strictly a Latin music artist, Barretto's 1968 album Acid, showed experimentation with an R&B and Latin fusion. When his usual group disbanded after several successful albums, he turned his focus to jazz. His talent and musical curiosity earned him Grammy Award for his 1990 album Ritmo en el Corazon, and eventual induction into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame.