Between 1972 and 1973, one of the divisions of a salsa orchestra occurred, at the very beginning of the rise of the Latin genre, which many remember, as was the Orquesta de Ray Baretto.
The mythical percussionist and musician Ray Barettocame from recording his greatest hits, up to that point, with a lineup that included the great soloist adalberto santiago as the person in charge of putting the voice on all the hits of the orchestra, where the musicians like Oreste Vilato, Luis Cruz, David Perez, rene lopezamong others.
The division
The split happens after the album “Long live music” released in mid-1972, where the success came to a halt “Cooking”. Barrette with a repertoire where other successes have been appreciated such as “Take off your mask” interpreted by adalberto santiago, overnight, ran out of musicians. Many of them claimed they wanted their own orchestra, others wanted more money, others just went with their “friends”.
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Barrette with great pain, he accepted his momentary defeat. He released an instrumental album filled with jazz and Latin fusion, just the way he liked them, but the production went unnoticed in the market. As a result of this, Ray found himself under pressure to do something about it, and that’s when he decides to come back with everything in his power.
new blood
Recruit musicians of the stature of Eddy Martinez play piano, Julio Romero draw with your baby bass, “Little” Ray Romero for the discharges on the timpani, Tony Fuentes score with their bongos, and in the winds he rearmed a star defense loaded with Robert Rodriguez, Joseph “Grandpa” Roman, Manuel “Manny” Duran there Art “Artie” Webb on the flute
But that still needed a dominant voice. a young man named Roberto Romero Caballeroa.k.a Tito Allen was the one, with an elegant tone and a more refined voice color, much fresher and more suited to the new sound he was creating. Barrette He managed to keep the throne, even though those who would be responsible for the album’s backing vocals were missing. Well, nothing more and nothing less than the star of the FAN for the moment, “the man who breathes underwater” was made with the backing vocals, the big Hector Lavoe next to Panamanian “Little finger” Miguel Angel Barcasnegrasand they were joined Roberto Rodriguez, Neighborhood Felo and the “Bronx Bad” Willie Colon.
“Indestructible” directory for Ray Barretto’s story
The orchestra rearmed, all that remained was to record. The sessions took place in the studios Good vibration sound studios from New York with the engineer Jon Faust. Catalino “Tite” Curet Alonso he pulled out of his sleeve a great song called “The Son of Obatala” the single i needed so much Ray Baretto to return to the market listings and Tito Allen he interpreted it masterfully where “Little” Romero shows a timpani discharge that has been recorded for posterity.
Another topic that would be recorded is “The devil” of Welcome Julian Gutierrezkind of his montuno, where he leads us into a transition full of genius towards a piano solo with jazzy tunes which would be taken up Edy Martinez.
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We can also hear other gems like “Family” credited on the most recent editions of the record to Julio Gunda Merced (Although it has been disputed for decades that the subject originally belongs to Jose Curbelo) y “The Orchestra” of Roberto RodriguezIn the latter, Barretto introduces himself and then introduces his entire new orchestra, leaving the past behind.
However, to close the album, it needed a punchy theme, because even when the “past had been left behind”, the world could not forget that the orchestra was that of Ray Baretto and no one else, so a base-loaded home run was needed.
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“Indestructible” was the indicated theme, composed as co-author by himself Barreto there Joseph “Grandpa” Romanwe can hear how Tito Allen let the better disk performance tell everyone, that “With new blood is an indestructible force” displaying all the power of Barretto and his orchestra.
Legacy
Izzy Sanabria He will design one of the most emblematic album covers in the world of salsa and Latin music. We see the big Ray Baretto take off his glasses and his shirt to reveal his T-Shirt Superman he wore underneath, emphasizing the idea that he was not just a musician, it was Ray Barretto the “Indestructible”, “the man of steel” with the “toughest hands” of the salsa. The cover photo was taken by robert schneider.
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In this way the big Ray Baretto released his album “Indestructible” at the end of 1973 and made it a commercial and musical success, reborn not only to have the “hardest hands” in salsa, but also demonstrating that he was a “man of steel”, this album being the one of the most popular today. the best records of his entire career.
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