Ray Barretto – Soul Drummers from the Fania Records 45

As we approach the one year anniversary of Flea Market Funk at the end of the month, I started going through record boxes looking for some sides I may have overlooked. I buy a lot of records, and even though I do have them organized, some sides slip by the wayside. This particular side is one of them that did. In fact, it is the flip side of “Mercy, Mercy, Baby”. This is one of my favorite Latin sides: Ray Barretto with “Soul Drummers” on Fania.

Born in 1929 in New York City, this Puerto Rican percussionist was brought up in a house of Jazz music in Spanish Harlem. After joining the Army, he would meet vibist Fats Sadi in Germany in 1946, and the realization of his true calling would surface. After returning from the military, he would be asked to play with Jazz greats Jose Curbelo, Tito Puente and Charlie Parker. It would be Barretto who would open the door for Latin Jazz percussionists in commercial music. A house musician for Prestige, Blue Note and Riverside, he would get his first hit, which consequently would be the first Latin hit on the radio (and Billboard charts), called “El Watusi” on Tico Records. When he joined the Fania Record label, however, he would make the landmark record Acid in 1968. It was his infusion of Rhythm and Blues with Latin Jazz that makes this record so special. It would include this very side, as well as “Deeper Shade of Soul” (which is another all time favorite of mine). His band however, would leave Barretto just as the band gained some notoriety to form Tipica 73. Barretto, shattered and depressed, would move on as leader of the Fania All Stars, a band in the words of Soul Strutters is “unfuckablewith”. Think Baretto, Willie Colón, Larry Harlow, Johnny Pacheco, Roberto Roena, Bobby Valentín, all jamming with Manu Dibango, Mongo Santamaria and Jorge Santana (younger brother of Carlos Santana). The King of the Hard Hands, Barretto did studio sessions in the 1970’s with big guns the Bee Gees and the Rolling Stones. He continued to make records and tour, finally winning a Grammy in 1990. He would die of congestive heart failure in 2006, but was touring and recording up til the day he died.

Soul Drummers is a Latin Jazz infused Funk freak out of a record. As Ray swings with “It’s hard to resist, with the African Twist!”, man he’s not kidding. It’s upbeat Latin beat is rich with lots of Latin percussion (complete with a great break down in the middle), and a killer horn section. I assure you that you can not stand still. As I’m typing this, I can’t stop tapping my feet to the beat, and you’ll have a hard time not doing it as well. This definitely not a rare record, just some straight Latin heat, coming straight out of Nueva York. I’ll see you midweek. Keep Diggin’!