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Ray Mantilla: Good Vibrations
by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
On the cover of Good Vibrations, Ray Mantilla is dressed in black, as if in mourning. It seems appropriate. Two of the nine songs are tributes to the late Tito Puente, and in the liner notes, he dedicates “baritone con Bata to “honor all our heroes of percussion who are here now and who have passed on. Good Vibrations takes a jab at the supernatural, not asking questions about life, death, the pursuit of happiness and what have you, but ...
read moreRay Mantilla: Good Vibrations
by Nic Jones
Politeness has always been a dubious quality in music. It is, however, one of the most obvious characteristics of this disc. With the exception of baritone sax and flautist Enrique Fernandez, not one of the musicians raises the heat. Instead, a bland uniformity prevails. The percussionists dovetail without injecting the kind of rhythmic impetus that would have elevated the material, and the results could serve well as background music for cocktail parties. They would certainly be unlikely to get in ...
read moreRay Mantilla & The New Space Station: Man-Ti-Ya
by Javier AQ Ortiz
Man-Ti-Ya is the latest launch of percussionist Ray Mantilla's Space Station, featuring a full-size sounding septet. As usual, Mantilla recruits skilled musicians for his releases. On this occasion, highlights include veteran pianist “Eddie MartÃ-nez, who enhances this recording not only with his remarkable performance, but also through his arrangements; saxophonist Willie Williams, who distinguished himself with trombonist “Papo Vásquez; and flutist and woodwind player Enrique Fernández, who issued MelodÃ-a para congas--one of the salient Latin jazz notes of the late ...
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