The son of Puerto Rican parents, thirty-eight-year old trumpeter Ray Vega grew up in the South Bronx. One of his first first purchases was an album by Freddie Hubbard, and his early working experience as a musician is rooted in some of the hottest salsa bands on the planet. The man who has played with the likes of Ray Barretto, Mongo Santamaria and as the lead trumpeter with Tito Puente, for the last 6 years is unarguably a staple in the Latin Jazz diet.
Latin jazz is in Vega's blood, and he's not shy about expressing his well-informed perspective either: "My main problem with Latin Jazz today is that they're taking anything and calling it jazz. Like folk music from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic - that's always had an element of improvisation in it. Even if you hear a guitarist improvising on a Jibaro record, that doesn't mean it's jazz.
"Jazz is American music and you can't mix those things up. Not only are you belittling the great masters of jazz but you're watering down the rich tradition and the contributions of the masters of the music of Puerto Rico and Cuba as well, by calling the improvisational elements in their music 'jazz.' It's not. J.S. Bach improvised every Sunday at church and I wouldn't call his improvisations jazz. To balance this out, I would have to also say that many jazz artists are producing Latin jazz CDs and they have absolutely no knowledge of the vast history of Latin music. A jazz band with a conga player doesn't cut it in my book either."
A dedicated student of jazz since his teenage years, Vega has played alongside Dizzy Gillespie with Mongo, and on Joe Henderson's Grammy Award-winning big band recording. "I came up in the tradition of the great salsa bands, so I want to take those elements and put them under the heading of jazz. I want people to hear the jazz harmonies, hear musicians improvising by utilizing a jazz dynamic, but also playing with respect to what's happening rhythmically as well," Ray explains.
His second recording for Concord Records, Boperation, is a tribute to a dozen great jazz trumpeters: Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Dorham, Fats Navarro, Dizzy Gillespie, Eddie Henderson, Clifford, Miles Davis, Woody Shaw, Chet Baker, Art Farmer, Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan.
Ray has taken the quintessential compositions of legendary trumpet players and added a distinctive Latin feel to each, creating a hybrid that embraces a number of delectable rhythms from Cuba, Africa and Puerto Rico as well as the sophisticated harmonies of jazz. Throughout this recording, Ray lives up to his eminent reputation as a trumpeter known for both his Latin and jazz chops, a scholar of Latin rhythms and a great horn improviser. The result is music of the highest order.
His collaborators are the finest musicians on the Latin and jazz scene today. Saxophonist Roger Byam is described by Ray as a "beautiful, swinging, player who doesn't talk much but really takes care of business. He's worked with Joe Sample and also in Marcus Miller's band." Igor Atalita, from Curacao, is a Berklee graduate who has relocated to New York and is now one of the first-call piano players on the salsa scene. Bassist Bennie Minoso played with Ray in Mongo Santamaria's band. Drummer Vince Cherico, who played on Ray's self-titled Concord Picante debut, has "been a friend for many many years. He has played with Ray Barretto and Paquito D'Rivera," says Ray. Percussionist Wilson "Chembo" Corniel is also a ling time associate. "We came up in the same band, Louie Ramirez, one of the top Salsa groups," Vega observes. Special guest Steve Khan is one of Ray's heroes from way back. "I first heard him on a Brecker Brothers record. He really put a lot on the table here," Ray relates. As for Joe Locke, Ray fondly describes him as "The craziest man in town. I love him dearly. Joe's a jazz spirit who lives and breathes this music. He's comical, but when the red 'recording' light comes on, he gives you 150%, swinging his butt off. He is a truly great jazz vibraphonist."
Vega notes that he is "very respectful of the mambo jazz craze of the 1940s and '50s because that's what paved the way for what I'm trying to do, as well as for people like Andy and Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache band. As long as we're respecting the jazz end of things and playing with someconcept of rhythmic and harmonic knowledge of the music, we're on the right track."
"Lauded for his fiery playing with music legends Paul Simon, Joe Henderson, Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Mario Bauza and Mongo Santamaria, Ray Vega is a world-class Latin jazz trumpeter and Boperation, his second Concord Picante release, is an inspired tribute to his jazz trumpet forefathers. Using the original arrangements of such classics as Fats Navarro's "Boperation," Clifford Brown's "Daahoud," and Lee Morgan's "Mr. Kenyatta" as a point of departure, Vega fuses them with a variety of enlivening Latin rhythms and creative twists. Features special guests Steve Khan (guitar) and Joe Locke (vibes)." - Bret Primack, www.birdlives.com
