Ray Barretto – The Message (1972) 320kbs

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Ray Barretto
“The Message”
Released 1972, Fania Records
Release Date Jul 17, 2007
Studio/Live Studio
Mono/Stereo Stereo
Producer Ray Barretto
Engineer Irv Greenbaum
Recording Time 35 minutes
Personnel Ray Barretto – congas
Orestes Vilato – timbales
Andy Gonzalez – bass
Roberto Rodriguez – trumpet
Johnny “Dandy” Rodriguez – bongos
Rene Lopez
Joseph “Papy” Roman
Louis Cruz – piano

From Dusty Groove
One of Ray Barretto’s hardest-hitting salsa albums of the 70s — a raw set of grooves that’s got Ray moving away from the playfulness of the Latin Soul years, into a more righteous mode that’s easily guessed at from the title of the set! The vibe here is very straightforward — with Ray coming down hard on conga, and working with a group that features Adalberto Santiago on lead vocals, plus Orestes Vilato on timbales, Andy Gonzalez on bass, and Luis Cruz on piano. The sound is spare and raw — and titles include the wonderfully echoey tune “O Elefante”, with some great elephant-like work on trumpet — plus “Con El Cimarron”, “Se Traba”, “Arrepientete”, and “Te Traigo Mi Son”.

Review by José A. Estévez, Jr.

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.

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Ray Barretto looking curiously like Al Franken….

Ray Barretto – The Message (1972) 320kbs em pee three

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0 Comments

  1. just discovered the blog… totally loving it so far!

    good show, folks!

  2. Thanks Flabbergast!

    Cheers,

  3. Andy Gonzalez plays a upright ampeg baby bass not a guitar bass

  4. arrgh.. link is down. could you please re-up? thanks in advance.

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