Remembering Ray Santos

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This post is also available in: Español

Raymond (Ray) Santos was one of those amazing musicians that many of the younger Latin music fans may have missed.

Here I will try to give you a glimpse of Ray Santos with the aid of a couple of videos and links to a couple of articles.

Mini-Documentary of Ray Santos

In this brief 10 minute documentary you’ll get an overview of the 90 years of life of this son of the Bronx and Puerto Rico.

Two Recent Albums

Ray Santos left his mark on many musical projects. Two recent ones are worth exploring to give you a taste of his talent.

Eddie Palmieri: “Mi Luz Mayor

In this Latin Grammy-nominated album, Santos contributed several arrangements.

Here are Eddie’s words on the “Mi Luz Mayor” album credits…

“I would also like to acknowledge of the profound respect, admiration and impact both Rene Hernández and Ray Santos have had on my musical life. Their arranging skills show careful study and the diligence I endeavor to carry over into my own arrangements. It is the platform from which I rarely move, where the historical integrity of the Cuban structures are preserved and expounded upon – that is the excitement that drives my creative process.”

As Eddie Palmieri explains, René Hernandez served as Ray’s mentor back in the old days. Hernandez made several of the original arrangements for some of the songs in the album, made back then only for trumpets, and Ray updated them for the expanded brass section in the album.

Here’s a follow-up to the previous video with “Sun Sun Babae”.

Jon Secada: “To Beny Moré with Love

This was another great recent project where Ray showed his amazing arranging talent.

The below song, “Como Fué”, speaks for itself.

Summary of Ray Santos

What else can I add? A great man, a great musician, and a great contributor to our culture.

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1 Comment
  1. […] and singer Guillo Rivera makes his debut with the band. It’s interesting that the maestro Ray Santos was one of the arrangers in the album, and he surely knew Mr. Babalú quite well. Junior’s […]

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