RAY BARETTO - ACID

This t-shirt is all about the 60’s and the Latinos making noise in El Barrio. Ray Barretto and his album Acid were hard on the radio. One of the gems on Ray Barretto’s Acid is the title tune, Acid. It's simple, funky bass tumbao (a repetitive, rhythmic pattern) recorded in one take. It’s a tour de force that combines a jazz aesthetic with the drive of Afro-Cuban rhythm. Funky Cuban shadings and his own Nuyorican attitude is what you get.

"Jazz is always at the core of what I do musically," Barretto always said. As the most recorded hand percussionist in jazz history, and a leading force in salsa, this indeed is the case. In the New York/Puerto Rican experience, this duality is the norm, not the exception. From the early Latinos in New Orleans who participated in jazz's birth, to Nuyoricans like maestro Barretto, this rich musical journey continues. Welcome to part of that journey— Barretto's debut album for Fania, Acid.