Barretto Makes an Electric Latin-Jazz Connection

Amid the growing flurry of Latin jazz, much of it consisting of jazz horns and Latin percussion existing side by side rather than in a creative symbiosis, Ray Barretto is a beacon of musical originality. With apparently effortless ease, he has consistently produced a seamless blend of no-holds-barred jazz steaming with Afro-Caribbean rhythms.

On Friday, in the opening set of a regrettably short three-night run at the Jazz Bakery, he showcased his New World Spirit ensemble--a band he has led, with varying personnel, for nearly a decade--in a delightful, entertaining program defining the very real associations between the improvisational spontaneity of jazz and the many rich rhythms grouped beneath the umbrella heading of Latin music.

Barretto made that connection clear via both words and deeds. After opening with hard-swinging renderings of Mercer Ellington’s “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be” and Thelonious Monk’s “I Mean You,” he took a few moments to discuss his pleasure in having reached a point in his life (he is 71) at which he can devote so much of his energy to cooking up his personal musical stew of jazz and Latin music. Then, solidifying the association, he kicked off a lovely interpretation of his ballad tribute to his onetime boss Tito Puente, “I Remember Tito.”

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Barretto’s vocal version of “Summertime” followed, as he explored the fashion in which the cultures of North America and the Caribbean find their own unique ways to express the blues.

Here, as elsewhere, the music was superbly performed by Puente’s companions--saxophonist Adam Kolker, a gifted, longtime Barretto associate; trumpeter John Bailey; pianist John Dimartino; bassist Gregg August; and drummer Vince Cherico. Working together in smoothly integrated fashion, constantly urged on by Barretto’s joyous enthusiasm, they produced music that transcended stylistic boundaries, true to the improvisational spirit of jazz, rich with the body-moving rhythms of Latin culture.

It’s just a shame they couldn’t be around for a full week’s run.