Ray Barretto funeral arrangements

Band leader, percussionist, NEA Jazz Master & Grammy Award winner Ray Barretto will be viewed at the Riverside Memorial Chapel on Wednesday, February 22, 2006 from 11 - 5 p.m. and 6 - 10 p.m. located at 180 West 76th Street, New York. Barretto died at the Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, N.J. at 5 am on Friday, February 17th, 2006. Ray Barretto is survived by his wife Annette Rivera, his four children: Chris, Raun, Ray, & Kelly Barretto and four grandchildren: Jullian Barretto, Aja Peters, Arno Peters and Alex Peters. Information on funeral arrangements will be available tomorrow morning.

For nearly 40 years, conguero and band leader Ray Barretto was one of the leading forces in Latin jazz. His hard, compelling playing style has graced the recordings of saxophonists Gene Ammons, Lou Donaldson, Sonny Stitt, and guitarists Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell.

Born April 29, 1929 in Brooklyn, Barretto is one of the most prolific and influential Latin percussionists in the history of modern jazz. With a musical heritage as deeply rooted in the bebop jam sessions held in Harlem during the late-'40s as in his Puerto Rican ancestry, Barretto has spent over four decades refining the integration of Afro- Caribbean rhythms with the improvisational elements of jazz. Coincidentally, it was the tune "Manteca� recorded by Gillespie with Chano Pozo on percussion that drove Barretto to music. And it was a version of that same tune that became Barretto's first recording with Red Garland.

Few artists have been as successful over the years at fusing these two genres as Barretto, an undisputed master of this style. A pioneer of the salsa movement, Barretto achieved international super stardom and released nearly two dozen albums with the Fania label from the late-'60s until salsa's popularity peaked in the mid-1980's.