Biography
Salsa’s celebrated pair brought together Ricardo ‘Richie’ Ray (born Ricardo Maldonado on 15 February 1945 in Brooklyn, New York, USA, to Puerto Rican parents; co-band leader, composer and multi-instrumentalist) alongside Bobby Cruz (born Roberto Cruz on 26 February 1941 in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico; co-band leader, singer, composer, arranger, güiro and maracas player). The two musicians have collaborated for more than twenty-five years. Ray first touched the piano keys at seven. During 1957 he performed on bass within a Cruz-led ensemble. His formal studies took him through the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, the High School of Performing Arts and the Juilliard School of Music, yet he departed the last of these after twelve months to concentrate on the band he had just assembled, with Cruz handling lead vocals. Ray inked a deal with Fonseca Records and made his recorded entrance via the 1964 album Ricardo Ray Arrives/Comején. Its title track, ‘Comején’, jointly authored by Ray and Cruz, became a hit, while the same collection showcased the memorable ‘Mambo Jazz’, a number the pair revisited across later recordings. Their strongest material emerged during the Fonseca years. The succeeding release, On The Scene With Ricardo Ray, offered a striking interpretation of Bud Powell’s ‘Parisian Thoroughfare’ that pivoted halfway from restrained Latin jazz into an urgent mambo. Among the supporting players on those early sessions were Ray’s brother, trumpeter Ray Maldonado, bassist and arranger Russell ‘Skee’ Farnsworth, and vocalist Chivirico Dávila. In 1966 Ray scored a crossover success inside the black American audience with ‘Jango’, drawn from the album 3 Dimensions.
Ray then moved to Alegre Records, issuing nine albums, one of them a compilation, on that imprint from 1966 through 1970. He ranked among the earliest artists to capture the R&B/Latin hybrid known as boogaloo. He later characterized his Alegre debut, Se Soltó/On The Loose/Introducing The Bugaloo, as ‘too musical’ and ‘ahead of its time’ (quoted in Latin NY magazine, c.1968). The deliberately more commercial follow-up, Jala Jala Y Boogaloo, featured one of his signature successes, ‘Richie’s Jala Jala’, again co-written by Ray and Cruz. Still contracted to Alegre, Ray cut Viva Ricardo and El Diferente for UA Latino, a United Artists Records division; the second of those sets included the striking ‘Feria En Manizales’. Los Durísimos/The Strong Ones/Salsa Y Control arrived in 1968 as the first album to grant Cruz equal billing with Ray. By then the ensemble comprised an eight-piece configuration: Venezuelan trumpeter Pedro Rafael Chaparro, jazz trumpeter Doc Cheatham, Farnsworth on bass and co-arrangements, timbalero José ‘Candido’ Rodríguez, conguero Jackie ‘El Conde’ Dillomis, bongosero Harry ‘Bongo’ Rodríguez, Ray on piano and co-arrangements, plus Cruz on lead vocals. Ray and Cruz maintained an all-trumpet front line, occasionally supplementing it with flügelhorn. The pair achieved notable popularity in Colombia during the late 1960s, their sound leaving a clear mark on that nation’s distinctive salsa variant. Their fifth Alegre outing, Let’s Get Down To The Real Nitty Gritty, spotlighted the single ‘Nitty Gritty’, which enjoyed modest UK success.
The duo shifted residence from New York to Puerto Rico in 1970. Ray later recounted in Latin NY (1976) that “the competitiveness of the Latin bands in New York was becoming too rough and we had grown tired of this city’s circuit... (and Bobby) just didn’t want his children to develop in this city’s environment.” Their former trumpeter Pedro Rafael Chaparro, previously associated with Pérez Prado, Tito Puente, Machito and Tito Rodríguez, made his leader debut on the 1971 Rico Records album Este Es Chaparro, issued by Ralph Cartagena; the personnel featured three former Ray and Cruz sidemen—Cheatham, Farnsworth and Dillomis. Only Cheatham remained for Chaparro’s 1974 album Gozando, which enlisted Israel ‘Cachao’ López on bass. Ray and Cruz encountered early difficulties upon settling in Puerto Rico, yet engagements soon multiplied. Their ensuing financial stability allowed them to open a nightclub in Santurce, a neighborhood within San Juan. Managing the venue alongside an intensive performance calendar proved unsustainable, so they divested the club and focused solely on the island’s live circuit.
Ray and Cruz aligned with the freshly launched Vaya Records, a Fania Records subsidiary founded by Jerry Masucci and Johnny Pacheco. Their Vaya catalogue of the 1970s and 1980s varied in consistency, yet isolated highlights surfaced. The Puerto Rico-recorded El Bestial Sonido De... Ricardo Ray Y Bobby Cruz (1970), Vaya’s inaugural release, ranked among their stronger efforts on the label; it introduced 18-year-old vocalist Miki Vimarí and incorporated Rubén Blades’ composition ‘Guaguanco Triste’. The 1972 showcase Ricardo Ray Presenta A La Vimarí offered a subdued collection of sentimental ballads. By contrast, 1973’s Jammin’ Live, again featuring Vimarí as co-lead singer, stood as a noteworthy achievement. Ray entered an emotionally turbulent phase in 1974 that led to struggles with alcohol and drugs. Several religious experiences culminated in his August announcement of conversion to evangelical Christianity. His fresh spiritual priorities initially overshadowed performances and created tension with Cruz, yet Cruz soon embraced the same faith. Thereafter they produced explicitly religious recordings while also infusing their conventional salsa output with devotional themes—what UK salsa broadcaster Tomek termed ‘salsa with beatitude’—and they further advanced their message through live crusades. Reconstrucción earned the duo their ninth gold disc, presented at Madison Square Garden in June 1980; Louie Ramírez directed the album and arranged one track. It contained the smash single ‘Juan En La Ciudad’, jointly written by the pair. Viven! (1977) included the dynamic ‘El Rey David’, another co-composition. Their second 1980 release, De Nuevo ‘Los Durísimos’ Again, featured the buoyant ‘Yo Soy La “Zarza”’, likewise co-penned. Doc Cheatham supplied trumpet solos on the three albums issued in 1981 and 1982. The duo’s final Vaya project, the Miami-recorded Los Inconfundibles (1987), highlighted the superb ‘Sipriano’, authored by Cruz.
Relative to most contemporaries, Ray and Cruz maintained limited outside collaborations with fellow Latin artists and ensembles, particularly after their conversion. Ray participated in the 1966 Tico All-Stars descarga sessions at New York’s Village Gate and appeared on the Fania All Stars’ two-volume 1968 debut. Between 1971 and 1976 the pair recorded with the Fania All Stars and featured in Jerry Masucci’s films Our Latin Thing (Nuestra Cosa) (1972) and Salsa (1976). They produced Chivirico Dávila’s 1978 album Nuevos Conceptos/New Concepts. Ray contributed a guest cover of Joe Jackson’s ‘Cancer’ to Héctor Lavoe’s Revento in 1985. In 1991 Ray and Cruz performed at a tribute concert held at El Campín Stadium in Bogotá, Colombia, honoring Joe Arroyo’s twenty years in music. That same year the duo delivered their farewell appearance during the opening segment of the annual New York Salsa Festival at Madison Square Garden.
Ray then moved to Alegre Records, issuing nine albums, one of them a compilation, on that imprint from 1966 through 1970. He ranked among the earliest artists to capture the R&B/Latin hybrid known as boogaloo. He later characterized his Alegre debut, Se Soltó/On The Loose/Introducing The Bugaloo, as ‘too musical’ and ‘ahead of its time’ (quoted in Latin NY magazine, c.1968). The deliberately more commercial follow-up, Jala Jala Y Boogaloo, featured one of his signature successes, ‘Richie’s Jala Jala’, again co-written by Ray and Cruz. Still contracted to Alegre, Ray cut Viva Ricardo and El Diferente for UA Latino, a United Artists Records division; the second of those sets included the striking ‘Feria En Manizales’. Los Durísimos/The Strong Ones/Salsa Y Control arrived in 1968 as the first album to grant Cruz equal billing with Ray. By then the ensemble comprised an eight-piece configuration: Venezuelan trumpeter Pedro Rafael Chaparro, jazz trumpeter Doc Cheatham, Farnsworth on bass and co-arrangements, timbalero José ‘Candido’ Rodríguez, conguero Jackie ‘El Conde’ Dillomis, bongosero Harry ‘Bongo’ Rodríguez, Ray on piano and co-arrangements, plus Cruz on lead vocals. Ray and Cruz maintained an all-trumpet front line, occasionally supplementing it with flügelhorn. The pair achieved notable popularity in Colombia during the late 1960s, their sound leaving a clear mark on that nation’s distinctive salsa variant. Their fifth Alegre outing, Let’s Get Down To The Real Nitty Gritty, spotlighted the single ‘Nitty Gritty’, which enjoyed modest UK success.
The duo shifted residence from New York to Puerto Rico in 1970. Ray later recounted in Latin NY (1976) that “the competitiveness of the Latin bands in New York was becoming too rough and we had grown tired of this city’s circuit... (and Bobby) just didn’t want his children to develop in this city’s environment.” Their former trumpeter Pedro Rafael Chaparro, previously associated with Pérez Prado, Tito Puente, Machito and Tito Rodríguez, made his leader debut on the 1971 Rico Records album Este Es Chaparro, issued by Ralph Cartagena; the personnel featured three former Ray and Cruz sidemen—Cheatham, Farnsworth and Dillomis. Only Cheatham remained for Chaparro’s 1974 album Gozando, which enlisted Israel ‘Cachao’ López on bass. Ray and Cruz encountered early difficulties upon settling in Puerto Rico, yet engagements soon multiplied. Their ensuing financial stability allowed them to open a nightclub in Santurce, a neighborhood within San Juan. Managing the venue alongside an intensive performance calendar proved unsustainable, so they divested the club and focused solely on the island’s live circuit.
Ray and Cruz aligned with the freshly launched Vaya Records, a Fania Records subsidiary founded by Jerry Masucci and Johnny Pacheco. Their Vaya catalogue of the 1970s and 1980s varied in consistency, yet isolated highlights surfaced. The Puerto Rico-recorded El Bestial Sonido De... Ricardo Ray Y Bobby Cruz (1970), Vaya’s inaugural release, ranked among their stronger efforts on the label; it introduced 18-year-old vocalist Miki Vimarí and incorporated Rubén Blades’ composition ‘Guaguanco Triste’. The 1972 showcase Ricardo Ray Presenta A La Vimarí offered a subdued collection of sentimental ballads. By contrast, 1973’s Jammin’ Live, again featuring Vimarí as co-lead singer, stood as a noteworthy achievement. Ray entered an emotionally turbulent phase in 1974 that led to struggles with alcohol and drugs. Several religious experiences culminated in his August announcement of conversion to evangelical Christianity. His fresh spiritual priorities initially overshadowed performances and created tension with Cruz, yet Cruz soon embraced the same faith. Thereafter they produced explicitly religious recordings while also infusing their conventional salsa output with devotional themes—what UK salsa broadcaster Tomek termed ‘salsa with beatitude’—and they further advanced their message through live crusades. Reconstrucción earned the duo their ninth gold disc, presented at Madison Square Garden in June 1980; Louie Ramírez directed the album and arranged one track. It contained the smash single ‘Juan En La Ciudad’, jointly written by the pair. Viven! (1977) included the dynamic ‘El Rey David’, another co-composition. Their second 1980 release, De Nuevo ‘Los Durísimos’ Again, featured the buoyant ‘Yo Soy La “Zarza”’, likewise co-penned. Doc Cheatham supplied trumpet solos on the three albums issued in 1981 and 1982. The duo’s final Vaya project, the Miami-recorded Los Inconfundibles (1987), highlighted the superb ‘Sipriano’, authored by Cruz.
Relative to most contemporaries, Ray and Cruz maintained limited outside collaborations with fellow Latin artists and ensembles, particularly after their conversion. Ray participated in the 1966 Tico All-Stars descarga sessions at New York’s Village Gate and appeared on the Fania All Stars’ two-volume 1968 debut. Between 1971 and 1976 the pair recorded with the Fania All Stars and featured in Jerry Masucci’s films Our Latin Thing (Nuestra Cosa) (1972) and Salsa (1976). They produced Chivirico Dávila’s 1978 album Nuevos Conceptos/New Concepts. Ray contributed a guest cover of Joe Jackson’s ‘Cancer’ to Héctor Lavoe’s Revento in 1985. In 1991 Ray and Cruz performed at a tribute concert held at El Campín Stadium in Bogotá, Colombia, honoring Joe Arroyo’s twenty years in music. That same year the duo delivered their farewell appearance during the opening segment of the annual New York Salsa Festival at Madison Square Garden.
Albums
