Ray Barretto – Together
Ray Barretto – Hipocresia y Falsedad
Ray Barretto – Tin Tin Deo
I was planning on starting my show today with a couple of classic Puerto Rican jams to celebrate Miguel Cotto’s vindication revenge rematch against Antonio Margarito when I realized that, inexplicably, I’ve never done a post on this absolute classic LP from Ray Barretto! “Together” is my single favorite Latin Soul number of all time, one of my top 5 soul songs of all time and a staple of my sets whenever I spin out. 
So many elements of the song to love, those horns that bang out at the beginning, the upbeat punchy drums along with the duo piano and bass lines, but above all it’s Ray Barretto’s vocals that seal the deal for me. Lyrically the song is one of the best 1960s anthems to Black/Brown/White/Red/Yellow unity, but lyrics are only as good as the singer who brings it all together and Barretto’s vocal performance has got soooooooo much soul! 100% guaranteed dance floor burner.
Together the LP features a number of nice proto-salsa tracks (I don’t really think of Salsa coming together until the 1970s), as well as a nice sorta post-Boogaloo “Hipocresia y Falsedad.” “Tin Tin Deo” is a latin standard, composed by the legendary Chano Pozo, the man who more or less put the Latin in Latin Jazz back in the 1940s. Barretto does it more as a funky vamp, adding just a little bit at a time, solo trumpet, solo piano, solo percussion before everything finally erupts in the final moments. Dope Dope Dope Dope!!! Together is a record that should be in EVERY single soul DJs catalog, wihtout question!
Cheers,
Michael