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When Afro-Cuban mambo met big band jazz, musical sparks flew.

Ray Barretto · Barretto Power It was 1970 when Fania Records released Barretto Power, one of a series of seminal albums by master percussionist and bandleader Ray Barretto. 1970, the beginning of an explosive decade in our planet. A decade of crisis and change, especially in New York. A decade of socioeconomic and cultural challenges for a new Latino generation in the Big Apple. Tropical music, the explosion of the so called salsa movement as a unifying phenomenon was gathering momentum, a diverse community searching for identity was embracing their roots in times of challenge. Ray Barre...

Johnny Pacheco’s recent passing rocked the Latin music community. Without him, salsa would never have coalesced, been codified, and spread throughout the

Johnny Pacheco, a seminal figure in Cuban-based dance music as it is played in New York City, died on Feb. 15 at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, N.J. He was