Latin jazz great Ray Barretto dies in New Jersey

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ray Barretto, the Latin conga drummer
best known for his 1960s hit “El Watusi,” died on Friday at a
New Jersey hospital, a family spokesman said. He was 76.

Barretto died at Hackensack University Medical Center in
Hackensack, New Jersey, George Rivera said in a statement.
Barretto had undergone heart bypass surgery in January,
according to press reports.

Music critics said Barretto was key to the introduction of
the driving salsa beat of the conga drum to jazz music.

“The first thing that came to my mind was passion,” said
Nat Hentoff, a noted jazz critic and columnist at The Village
Voice in New York. “I first heard him with (fellow
percussionist and bandleader) Tito Puente, who had this
enormous spirit and sense of polyrhythm, and Ray was able to
keep right up with him.”

Jason Koransky, editor of the jazz magazine DownBeat, said,
“The two musics, Latin and jazz, had a long history of
intersecting, and they intertwined because of artists such as
Ray.”

“El Watusi” was released in 1962 and made it to the top 20
of the U.S. pop charts the following year. Barretto won a
Grammy Award in 1989 for his performance of “Ritmo en el
Corazon” with Celia Cruz.

The son of immigrants from Puerto Rico, New York-born
Barretto played alongside jazz greats including Puente, Art
Blakey and Lou Donaldson.