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Ray Mantilla

Ray Mantilla was born in 1934 in the rhythm rich, dance-crazed atmosphere of the South Bronx where Afro-Cuban rhythmic forms transmogrified with jazz harmonies and sensibilities in the streets, the homes and dance halls. By 21, Mantilla was on the bandstand playing conga drums along with contemporaries Eddie Palmieri and Ray Barretto, playing that unique Neo-Nuyorican synthesis known as 'salsa' With flutist Herbie Mann, Ray Mantilla entered the international spotlight in 1960. Then, Max Roach invited him to be part of the classic "Freedom Now Suite" recording.

After a stint in Puerto Rico where he honed his skills on the trap set, Ray returned to the States to find himself touring nationally and in Europe and Japan with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. For the seven years Ray was with Blakey he occupied his off-hours doing studio work while recording and performing with almost every major figure in jazz including singers Eartha Kitt and Josephine Baker.

In 1977, Ray Mantilla became the first North American Latin musician to play in Cuba since the Cuban Revolution when he appeared there as an essential member of the historic goodwill ensemble led by Dizzy Gillespie.

Ray Mantilla's career has included membership in many legendary Jazz and Latin Jazz ensembles. A short list of Mantilla's credits includes, Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Ray Barretto, Gato Barbieri, Sonny Stitt, Bobby Watson, Herbie Mann, Tito Puente, Cedar Walton, and Freddie Hubbard. Prolific in the studio, Mantilla can be heard on more than 200 albums. He has appeared in all major clubs in New York City — the Apollo Theater, Palladium, Blue Note, SOB's, Birdland, Fat Tuesday's, Village Gate and the Village Vanguard in addition to many major international jazz festivals such as Sanremo, the Pori Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Festival, Montreaux Jazz Festival and the Grande Parade du Jazz.

Ray Mantilla describes his music as "Latin Jazz with authentic Latino rhythms." His goal, he says "is to keep playing good music, have people come to see us, and to preserve the tradition." In 2003 Ray Mantilla signed with Savant Records and his first record for the label, “Man-Ti-Ya” was released (SCD 2059). His latest recording, “Good Vibrations” (SCD 2073) adds the unique sound of Mike Freeman's vibes to his ensemble.

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Liner Notes

Larry Coryell: Improvisations: Best of the Vanguard Years

Read "Larry Coryell: Improvisations: Best of the Vanguard Years" reviewed by Josef Woodard


There have been many smoother operators in the world of jazz guitar than Larry Coryell, the brainy rough rider who was a natural-born fusioneer, in the best sense. There have been cleaner technicians on the instrument, with a more lucid sense of identity and careers that have followed a logical, rolling landscape. But not many have quite attained Coryell's strange, madly eclectic state of grace: into music he came, he saw and heard things not yet articulated, he conquered on ...

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Album Review

Max Roach: We Insist! Freedom Now Suite

Read "We Insist! Freedom Now Suite" reviewed by Chris May


Re-released following the passing of drummer Max Roach in August 2007, We Insist! Freedom Now Suite (Candid, 1960) remains a work of enduring musical and social importance. Notwithstanding Roach's central role in the creation of bop, or his later hard bop explorations with trumpeter Clifford Brown, it is, by some margin, the most perfectly realised album he recorded. 1960 was the year in which black Americans' struggle for civil rights reached critical mass. In February, anti-segregationist lunch-counter sit-ins ...

328
Album Review

Ray Mantilla: Good Vibrations

Read "Good Vibrations" reviewed by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio


On the cover of Good Vibrations, Ray Mantilla is dressed in black, as if in mourning. It seems appropriate. Two of the nine songs are tributes to the late Tito Puente, and in the liner notes, he dedicates “baritone con Bata to “honor all our heroes of percussion who are here now and who have passed on. Good Vibrations takes a jab at the supernatural, not asking questions about life, death, the pursuit of happiness and what have you, but ...

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Album Review

Ray Mantilla: Good Vibrations

Read "Good Vibrations" reviewed by Nic Jones


Politeness has always been a dubious quality in music. It is, however, one of the most obvious characteristics of this disc. With the exception of baritone sax and flautist Enrique Fernandez, not one of the musicians raises the heat. Instead, a bland uniformity prevails. The percussionists dovetail without injecting the kind of rhythmic impetus that would have elevated the material, and the results could serve well as background music for cocktail parties. They would certainly be unlikely to get in ...

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Album Review

Ray Mantilla & The New Space Station: Man-Ti-Ya

Read "Man-Ti-Ya" reviewed by Javier AQ Ortiz


Man-Ti-Ya is the latest launch of percussionist Ray Mantilla's Space Station, featuring a full-size sounding septet. As usual, Mantilla recruits skilled musicians for his releases. On this occasion, highlights include veteran pianist “Eddie MartÃ-nez, who enhances this recording not only with his remarkable performance, but also through his arrangements; saxophonist Willie Williams, who distinguished himself with trombonist “Papo Vásquez; and flutist and woodwind player Enrique Fernández, who issued MelodÃ-a para congas--one of the salient Latin jazz notes of the late ...

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Recording

Ray Mantilla: High Voltage

Ray Mantilla: High Voltage

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

A week or so ago I received a call from Harry Sepulveda. Harry and I go way back. We first met in the 1970s, when I used to buy Latin-jazz albums at Record Mart, his store in the Times Square subway station, down a flight of stairs from the Shuttle. Today the store still exists, though it now has a more prominent location facing the shuttle. Latin music still pours out the door, adding flavor to the expansive station. Harry ...

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Technology

Ray Mantilla: The Complete Percussionist

Ray Mantilla: The Complete Percussionist

Source: All About Jazz

On Sunday, June 22nd Tony V / Latin Perspective will feature a 75 min presentation, on WRUW 91.1FM in Cleveland, streaming live at wruw.org from 6-8 pm EST that will cover the life, music, and musical career of Ray Mantilla, the complete percussionist. Ray Mantilla is considered by many as one of the most respected percussionists in both the jazz and Latin idioms. Throughout his career, that spans over fifty years, he has performed and/or recorded on more than 200 ...

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Music Industry

Ray Mantilla in Italy

Ray Mantilla in Italy

Source: All About Jazz


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Music Industry

Ray Mantilla on the web

Ray Mantilla on the web

Source: All About Jazz


Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Connection

Savant Records
2013

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We Insist! Freedom...

Candid Records
2007

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Improvisations: Best...

Vanguard Records
2007

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Good Vibrations

HighNote Records
2006

buy

Man-Ti-Ya

Savant Records
2005

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Mantilla

Abracadabra Music
1978

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