Ray Barretto (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006) was a Grammy Award-winnin… Read Full Bio ↴Ray Barretto (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006) was a Grammy Award-winning Latin/Latin jazz musician of Puerto Rican ancestry.

Ray Barretto, a percussionist extraordinaire and legend in the Salsa & latin Jazz music community has left the music scene with his death in February 2006 at age 76.
Born of Puerto Rican descendence in Brooklyn during the depression, he lived with his mother in East Harlem, The South Bronx and other "boricua" districts before he joined the army, where in the latter 1940's he heard Dizzy Gillespie's hard bebop. The young man was transfixed by Dizzy Gillespie - Manteca," which featured conguero Chano Pozo.

He started sitting in at a Munich jazz club, and after his discharge, by the early 50's he had bought his own Cuban Cnga drum and was playing regularly at clubs like The Bucket of Blood. Soon Mambo was the rage, and Barretto eventually started playing with Tito Puente in 1957, replacing the famed Mongo Santamaria. He became a band leader on his own by 1961, and had a big hit with his group Charanga Moderna and their boogaloo dance craze single called "el Watusi" in 1963 that was the first Latin record to hit the Billboard top 20, and went Gold.

Barretto is credited by some for bringing the African Conga drum into popular music, and had a crossover appeal that transcended the genre boundries of mainstream music categories. He gained recognition beyond the Puerto Rican music scene, ex. played on many Blue Note albums. He beacme associated with the Latin label Fania in the 1960's and played for three decades in the popular ensemble called the Fania All Stars alongsde Willie Colon, Ruben Blades and others. His 1972 album, "Carnaval", is considered a masterpiece amongst latin Jazz afficianados with the songs "Cocinando Suave" and his interpretation of Gershwin's "Summertime".

Highlights of Barretto's run with the Fania All Stars were their tours of spots like Panama, Puerto Rico and Zaire where they played to 80,000 in Kinshasa before the Ali-Foremen fight. Undoubtedly their sell out concerts at N.Y's Yankee Stadium in 1973 & 1975 would have to be included as well.

In 1975 and 1976, Barretto earned back-to-back Grammy nominations for his solo albums "Barretto" (with the prize-winning song "Guarere") and his double "Barretto Live...Tomorrow". By 1976, although he had stopped performing & touring with his live salsa orchestra, he was regularly voted Best Conga Player in music magazine annual polls. He became interested in jazz fusion forms, and pursued this musical passion despite it's lack of commercial appeal. Barretto felt restricted by the Salsa scene, it's conventions and strict danceable format, and did not like the tag Latin Jazz either.

He teamed with singer Celia Cruz in 1983 for the first of several albums, finally winning a 1990 Grammy with her for their 1989 song "Ritmo En El Corazon". In 1992, he formed the ensemble New World Spirit, and was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 1999.

He had recently been named best drummer in the 2005 DownBeat poll, and received the NEA's 2006 Jazz Masters Fellowship before his health declined. His recent albums "Taboo" (1994), "My Summertime" (1998) and his final album 2005's "Time Was - Time Is" all received Grammy nominations for best Latin jazz performance.

Over the years he is said to have recorded more than 70 albums for numerous labels including Riverside, Atlantic, EMI, CTI, Fania, Tico, RCA Victor, Concord Picante, Prestige, Blue Note, Circular Moves, Sunnyside and his last for O+ Music. Amongst his many musical collaborators included Cannonball Adderly, Joe Farrell, Wes Montgomery, Cal Tjader, Charlie Palmieri, George Benson, Lou Donaldson, Dizzy Gillespie, José Curbelo , Adalberto Santiago, Steve Gadd, Hector Lavoe, Yusef Lateef, Gene Ammons, Red Garland, Ray Vega, Oscar Hernandez, Tito Gomez, and even Little Miami Steven Van Zant's Sun City project. At the time of his death in a New Jersey hospital, he was in his late 70's, and had recently had several health setbacks including suffering asthma, compounded by heart attack, bypass surgery, pneumonia , a tracheotomy and just enough damned ailments to take Fuerza Gigante down.

More Barretto Links & Sample MP3'z & Interviews available at

http://lilmikesf.blogspot.com/2006/02/conga-king-ray-barretto-rip.html

Pura Novela
Ray Barretto Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Empezamos la novela
Como la empieza cualquiera
Yo pobre y tu soñadora
Los dos en la misma acera

Pero riquezas yo no te podría dar
Ni el lujo que llegaste a ambicionar
Quisiste ser la duquesa

Ocultada en un castillo
Si conociste el amor
Tu cariño fue escondido
Óyelo bien

Así perdió tu novela su detalle de moral
Y el título de nobleza
Con tal de ser otra vez
Muchacha de ese arrabal

Yo te lo dije hace tiempo mujer
Lo tuyo nunca fue forma de querer

Viviste vida de fantasía
El amor que te ofrecí no lo querías

Hoy quieres tu volver al pobre
Que te quería

De que te vale de que te vale pedir perdón mamita
Si tu a mi no me interesas

Tu no me vengas llorando
Para que

No que no no no nono que no no no me interesa

Yo te aconsejo mamita que te examines la cabeza

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Ray Barretto's song Pura Novela tell the story of the beginning and end of a relationship. The singer begins by describing how the relationship started out like any other, with him being a poor man and his partner being a dreamer. However, he goes on to explain that he was never able to provide her with the riches and luxury she desired, and she ultimately wanted to be a duchess hidden away in a castle. Her love for him was hidden away and kept secret, and as a result, their story lost its moral compass and nobility. The singer reveals that he had warned her that her idea of love was not genuine and it eventually led to the downfall of their relationship.

The chorus of the song speaks to the woman's desire to return to the singer now that she has lost her fantasies and wants to come back to the life she once knew. However, the singer is not interested in her and advises her to examine her thoughts and feelings towards him. The lyrics carry a message about the importance of honesty and authenticity in relationships, warning of the dangers of living in a fantasy world.

Line by Line Meaning

Empezamos la novela
We began our story

Como la empieza cualquiera
Like any other story begins

Yo pobre y tu soñadora
I was poor and you were a dreamer

Los dos en la misma acera
We were both on the same street

Pero riquezas yo no te podría dar
But I couldn't give you wealth

Ni el lujo que llegaste a ambicionar
Nor the luxury you came to desire

Quisiste ser la duquesa
You wanted to be a duchess

Ocultada en un castillo
Hidden away in a castle

Si conociste el amor
If you knew love

Tu cariño fue escondido
Your affection was hidden

Óyelo bien
Listen well