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Ray Santos

For years, Ray Santos has been one Latin Music’s best kept secrets. Not anymore. His arrangement of Beautiful Maria of My Soul for the Hollywood movie, “The Mambo Kings,” was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Song for a Movie Category (1992). He penned the arrangements for tunes such as Perfidia and Quiereme Mucho, sung on the movie soundtrack by Linda Ronstadt. Excited by the power of the Ray Santos arrangements, she quickly contracted him to arrange and conduct the material for an album of Latin standards.

The result of the Ronstadt/Santos collaboration was the release entitled Frenesi, a tour-de force production that earned the Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Album of the Year (1992). On Tito Puente’s 100th Album and Afro-Cuban Jazz progenitor Mario Bauza’s three last productions, Ray Santos’ musicianship pours forth through his big band arrangements.

The Juilliard graduate has played, recorded, composed and arranged for the frontline orchestras in the Latin Music Industry over the past 50 years. Mr. Santos, born and raised in New York City, reveled in the atmosphere of the Big Band Era. During this period he absorbed the popular music of his folk from the Caribbean and the Swing Music of the ‘30s and ‘40s. One night, around 1948, while listening to Symphony Sid on the radio, he heard him announce in that familiar deep voice “Now here’s ‘Bird,’ Charlie Parker soloing with Machito and His Afro-Cubans.” The thrill of that moment still in his voice, Ray excitedly describes his reaction “WOW, This is it! This is the real meeting between Jazz and Afro-Cuban Music.”

Creative determination compelled the young saxophonist of the ‘50s to arrange and compose music that captured the incessant rhythmic drive of the Afro-Cuban Sound fused with the power and sonority of Big Band Jazz. The ace arranger penned an extensive output of charts, recorded by two generations of the most influential musical figures in contemporary American and Caribbean music, such as Machito, Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez. His career from the ‘60s into the early ‘80s matured in Puerto Rico where he wrote and directed music for television, produced recordings for established and emerging Salsa Bands, and played for many top stars in the business. Upon returning to New York, Santos contributed several arrangements to Eddie Palmieri’s 1986 Grammy-winning album in the Latin Music category. His career as a music educator at City College of New York has established him as an authority on Caribbean music, teaching a new generation of musicians. Media and film producers have contracted him as an arranger and music consultant and he remains an artistic innovator in the field.

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204

Interview

Interview: Ray Santos (Part 2)

Interview: Ray Santos (Part 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

For years, Latin-jazz has been ignored or unduly dismissed as repetitive novelty music by jazz fans who should know better. While Latin-jazz is certainly foreign to those who have little knowledge of or connection with the Latin experience in America, the music's tempos and syncopation remain exceptional and worthy of scholarship. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie understood this in their early forays into Afro-Cuban music in the late 1940s. When Latin-jazz moved into the ballrooms in the 1950s, the music ...

303

Interview

Interview: Ray Santos (Part 1)

Interview: Ray Santos (Part 1)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

As Latin-jazz legends go, saxophonist Ray Santos ranks high on the list. Few living Latin-jazz artists today can claim to have played in and arranged for the bands of Machito, Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez. To give you an idea of what this trifecta means, it would be akin to a saxophonist playing in the Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Woody Herman bands. In addition, Ray is one of only a handful of surviving musicians who recorded on Kenya: Afro-Cuban ...

316

Performance / Tour

MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra and Bobby Sanabria to Honor Maestro Ray Santos: A Life in Latin Music

MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra and Bobby Sanabria to Honor Maestro Ray Santos: A Life in Latin Music

Source: Michael Ricci

The recently Grammy nominated Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra directed by Maestro Bobby Sanabria honors another Maestro, the legendary composer, arranger Ray Santos on Friday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the School's John C. Borden Auditorium. That evening, showcased will be music that will span Maestro Santos's entire prolific career. Performed will be specific pieces that he either composed and/or arranged for such legends as Machito & The Afro-Cubans, Tito Puente, Mario Bauza' as well as his ...

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Event

Music Greats Gather to Celebrate Latin Jazz Legend Ray Santo's 80th Birthday

Music Greats Gather to Celebrate Latin Jazz Legend Ray Santo's 80th Birthday

Source: All About Jazz

New York, NY -- Candido Camero, Alfredo “Chocolate" Armenteros and Jimmy Bosch will gather with the Latin Jazz All Stars for a special 80th birthday celebration for legendary Latin jazz composer, arranger and saxophonist Ray Santos on Monday, May 18th at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center. The ensemble group will perform sizzling Santos compositions such as Sunny Ray, Azulito and 3-D Mambo, set behind the backdrop of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline in honor of one ...

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