Ricardo Ray

Ricardo "Richie" Ray (born February 15, 1945 in Brooklyn Borough , New York ; actually Ricardo Maldonado Morales ) is an American Puerto Rican pianist , composer and band leader .

Life and discography

Ricardo's father was the guitarist Pacífico Maldonado , which means that he was born with music. He learned to play the piano at the age of seven . Five years later he attended the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music , then the High School of Performing Arts, and graduated in one year from the Juilliard School of Music . In 1963, at the age of 18, he formed his own band.

In 1964 Richie Ray recorded his first record with his childhood friend Bobby Cruz , arranged and composed together, at that time still under the label of "Fonseca": Comejen , with Chivirico Dávila as singer and Richie's brother Ray Maldonado on trumpet. They celebrated their first successes with a mixture of Latin and Mambo jazz and boogaloo . Bobby Cruz sang in the background from 1965. The boogaloo increasingly moved into the focus of their musical work, now under the production company "Alegre". It was followed by On the Loose in 1966 and Richie's Jala-Jala the following summer . With this title he has already had international success, especially in Colombia and Venezuela . The follow-up albums Jala-Jala y Boogaloo and Volume II built on this.

From 1968, Bobby Cruz became the group's lead singer with Mr. Trumpet Man . Still under contract with "Alegre", they recorded the albums Viva Ricardo and El Diferente under the label of "UA Latino" (United Artists Records) , which already mark the transition to salsa. Feria en Manizales, Los Dusirismos and Salsa y Control testify to the new style of music.

At the same time they produced the album Let's Get Down To The Real Nitty Gritty under “Alegre” . The theme song Nitty Gritty received some attention from the English-speaking audience, not only in the US but also in the UK.

In 1970, Richie Ray decided to turn his back on New York and open his own nightclub in Santurce, San Juan (Puerto Rico). The pressure of competition between the many Latino bands that had suddenly sprung up had become too great for him. However, it proved difficult to meet all of the obligations of performing in and outside of the club. Because of this, the nightclub had to be sold again and Ray concentrated on the music business in Puerto Rico. In addition, Ray and Cruz signed with "Vaya-Records", a sub-label of " Fania ". In 1970 El Sonido Bestial De Ricardo Ray y Bobby Cruz was created , the first release under "Vaya" and an immediate huge success. The album also introduced the audience to the then 18-year-old singer Viki Vimari with the title Guaganco Triste , written by Ruben Blades . The success made Vimari the band's co-lead singer. Although the second album Ricardo Ray presenta a la Vimari in 1972 was a flop because it only consisted of slow soulful numbers, this improved suddenly with Jammin 'Live (especially the title track La Zafra ) in 1973 .

In 1974, at the height of her success, Richie Ray suddenly converted to evangelicalism . He himself justified this later with a substantive void that he felt and which would have led to drug and alcohol abuse. As a "born again Christian" there was inevitable conflict with those around him, but his wife and Bobby Cruz followed him with their conversion only a few months later. After that, both devoted themselves only to religious topics. According to their self-image, their new religiosity no longer allowed them to continue playing their music as usual. In particular, they reduced solos and brass sections in their arrangements, but without giving up salsa as a means of proclaiming faith in itself. In 1976 their last gold album came out: Reconstrucción , which they presented in Madison Square Garden in 1980 . The LP contained the title song Juan en la Ciudad , which tells the story of the prodigal son. Despite the Christian orientation, the song became a hit. Other Christian titles followed: El Rey David, Ruth, Yo soy la Zarza, Los Fariseos . Doc Cheatham returned to the band in 1981-82 and in 1987 Los Inconfundibles was formed with Sipriano .

Still, it wasn't like before. Ray and Cruz had already worked little with other Latin American artists in their early days, but after their conversion they almost completely isolated themselves. They canceled their contract with "Fania" and Ray founded his own music publisher: "Salvation Records". In the 1990s they took over the leadership of various communities, which caused them to turn more and more away from music and ultimately to be separated by their work. Ray increasingly tried Christian songs as a piano soloist, which he also sang himself ( Mi piano y yo , Más duro que antes , and Piano Praise ).

In 1991 they had their last appearance for the time being at the XVI Festival de la Salsa in Madison Square Garden. After that, they did not find each other again until July 22, 1999 in a concert at Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. In line with the comeback, the double CD Un sonido bestial was released , juxtaposing both epochs - the salsa and the Christian era. They played in the old style again, but in the moderation they always framed their pieces with Christian messages.

Your last CD Lo nuevo y lo mejor (2001) is clearly Christian again. In addition to the title song Reina de mi vida , this CD mainly contains many old salsa pieces by the duo, but now rewritten with Christian texts. Thus Yenyeré to El yo-yo , bestial Sonido became Más que vencedores and Agúzate to Arrepiéntete .

In 2003 Ray continued his Christian preaching on the piano with El ritmo del piano . On October 1st, 2015, Ray and Cruz will give a joint concert as part of the Salsa Festival in Berlin. The concert was canceled without giving any reason.

Style and meaning

Richie Ray is one of the very first salsa musicians. In the mid-1960s he was still one of the initiators of the boogaloo, in 1968 he made the transition to salsa. Salsa y Control is the first song that had the term salsa in the title and also contained salsa rhythms (see also: Eddie Palmieri ).

The band at that time consisted of Richie Ray himself on piano, Venezuelan Pedro Rafael Chaparro and Doc Cheatham on trumpets, Farnsworth (bass), Jos "Candido" Rodríguez (timbales), Jackie "El Conde" Dillomis (conga), Harry "Bongo “Rodríguez (Bongo) and Bobby Cruz as singers. This formation was typical of the new style of music at the time: the old Latin American orchestras were perceived as too slow. The brass sections have been drastically reduced, mostly to just a single (two or three-person instrument) and with a clear focus on the percussion .

Richie Ray's biography traces the seamless transition from boogaloo to salsa - it also makes clear why salsa as a new music genre was able to spread so quickly and almost simultaneously on the Caribbean coast: Venezuela and Colombia were already strongholds in the mid-1960s of boogaloo, just like New York .

In 1970 Ray rearranged the Sinatra hit My Way and rewrote it in Spanish to A mi Manera . Such adaptations were not uncommon at the time. They made an important contribution to the cultural identity of Latin Americans in the USA. Although the song looks rather kitschy from today's perspective, it was extremely popular back then and was played on the radios for months.

But Richie Ray's masterpiece is Sonido Bestial (1970). Here Ray was able to fully develop his skills as a conservatory pianist: Salsa with classical music and jazz - that had not existed before and was not achieved again in the following years. In the middle of the song, Ray suddenly plays an Etude (opus 10 no 12, “Revolution”) by Chopin . If you want to get closer to the "old salsa" of the 70s, you should start with this piece. There was later a similar version of Ray, in which he incorporated classical motifs into the piano improvisation: Gan Gan y Gon Gon (from the album "1975").

Furthermore, Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz made Christian salsa music socially acceptable. That, too, had never existed before: Salsa as a medium of preaching Christian topics. The outstanding piece here is Los Fariseos (1982): Salseros dance to the percussionized story of Barabbas and the Pharisees .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.tempodrom.de/richie_ray_und_bobby_cruz_2015-10-01_22.html