La Cuna

by Ray Barretto

Overview

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. ~ Alex Henderson

Product Details

Release Date:	11/01/2024
Label:	Music On Vinyl
UPC:	8719262032866
Rank:	123487

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Ray Barretto   Primary Artist,Congas,Percussion
John Tropea   Guest Artist,Guitar
Joe Farrell   Guest Artist,Flute,Sax (Alto),Sax (Tenor),Sax (Soprano)
Charlie Palmieri   Guest Artist,Piano,Percussion
Steve Gadd   Guest Artist,Drums
Jeremy Wall   Guest Artist,Conductor,Synthesizer
Tito Puente   Guest Artist,Timbales
Willie Torres   Vocals
Mark Craney   Drums
Suzanne Ciani   Synthesizer
Francisco Centeno   Bass
Carlos Franzetti   Piano

Technical Credits

Chris Herles   Digital Remastering,Remixing,Digital Mastering
Penny Armstrong   Product Manager
Neil Dorfsman   Mixing,Engineer
Howard Schneider   Composer
Jonathan Andrews   Artwork
Arnold Jay Smith   Liner Notes
Rudy Van Gelder   Engineer,Mastering
Stevie Wonder   Composer
Modest Mussorgsky   Composer
Suzanne Ciani   Synthesizer Programming
Creed Taylor   Producer
Carlos Franzetti   Arranger,Composer
Didier C. Deutsch   Liner Notes,Reissue Producer
Jeremy Wall   Arranger,Composer
Allen Weinberg   Art Direction