Ray Barretto - La Cuna (1981/2013) [DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC]

"La Cuna" is an album by GRAMMY Award-winning percussionist Ray Barretto, released by CTI label in 1981. Barretto perfectly straddles Afro-Cuban rhythms and grooving jazz fusion. Synths, sax and drums take charge in “Doloroso”, and the jubilant “La Cuna” boasts rumba rhythms that invigorate with experimental piano keys. With “Pastime Paradise”, a rendition of the groundbreaking Stevie Wonder hit, Barretto adds layers of buoyant, festive percussion to the soulful masterpiece; on the closing “Cocinando”, he maneuvers through conga acrobatics and fierce brass melodies with impressive finesse.

Producer Creed Taylor has inspired everything from praise to anger among jazz fans. His work has been brilliant at times, detrimental at others (his worst flaw being a tendency to overproduce). Taylor plays a mostly positive role on La Cuna, a jazz-oriented effort uniting Ray Barretto with such first-class talent as Tito Puente (timbales) and the late Joe Farrell (tenor & soprano sax, flute). As slick as things get at times on La Cuna, Taylor wisely gives the players room to blow on everything from the haunting "Doloroso" and the driving "Cocinando" (a piece by Carlos Franzetti that shouldn't be confused with Barretto's major salsa/cha-cha hit) to a somewhat Gato Barbieri-ish take on Mussorgsky's "The Old Castle." Barretto successfully moves into soul territory on Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise" (which rapper Coolio recast as his hit "Gangsta's Paradise" in 1994). Barretto may hate the term "Latin jazz," but make no mistake: La Cuna is one of his most memorable contributions to that genre.

Tracklist:

01 - La Cuna
02 - Doloroso
03 - Mambotango
04 - The Old Castle
05 - Pastime Paradise

Produced by Creed Taylor. Engineered by Rudy Van Gelder. Conducted & Arranged by Jeremy Wall.
Recorded in August 1979 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.



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