Ray Barretto - Eye Of The Beholder (1977/2012) [Official Digital Download 24-bit/192kHz]

"Eye Of The Beholder" is the 1977 classic by GRAMMY Award-winning percussionist Ray Barretto. It features Barretto’s signature fusion of Latin-jazz. It includes the standouts “Here We Go Again”, “Tumbao Africano” and “Senor Funk”. It would reach the Top 40 on the Billboard charts.

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".

Many pure salsa and Latin jazz fans have a difficult time with Ray Barretto's Atlantic Records period in the late 1970s because he was making a deliberate run at the crossover jazz/dance music charts. Who better to strive for such a thing? Barretto established his bona fides in jazz two decades earlier – and returned to them time and again until the end of his life. He was also one of the prime innovators in New York's salsa explosion, and even played on pop records as a sideman. His credits are book-length. This set from 1977 has dated well. A very large cast date, it features Stix Hooper, Joe Sample, and Wilton Felder of the Crusaders, as well as a host of West Coast session players from the pop, jazz, and Latin worlds: saxophonist Pete Christlieb, trumpeter Louis "Perico" Ortiz, trombonist Garnett Brown, drummers Terry Bozzio and Angel "Cachete" Maldonado, guitarist Ray Gomez, and bassist Jeff Berlin are just a few of the players who appear. The vibe here is more jazz-funk than fusion or salsa. It features loads of keyboards to balance the percussion load, making it more accessible to non-Latin fans, though the grooves balance the smooth with the steamy. The best tracks are "Here We Go Again," Leti," and "Tumbao Africano," while "Señor Funk" and "Expresso" are fine songs as well.

Tracklist:

01 - Here We Go Again
02 - Senor Funk
03 - Eye Of The Beholder
04 - Salsa Con Fusion
05 - Numero Uno
06 - Expresso
07 - Leti
08 - Tumbao Africano

Producer by Stix Hooper, Joe Sample and Wilton Felder.
Recorded at Hollywood Sond Studios, Hollywood, CA, except "1 & 4" recorded at Atlantic Studios, New York.



Thanks to the Original customer!