Ray Mantilla
Encyclopedia
Raymond Mantilla is an American
jazz
drummer
. He has played as a session musician
and toured with some of the most significant jazz musicians of his time. Mantilla has been bandleader
of his own ensembles and was a founding member of the percussion ensemble M'Boom
, with Max Roach
.
. He played with a number of latin jazz
ensembles in the 1950s, including the La Playa Sextet, Xavier Cugat
, Lou Perez
, René Touzet
, Miguelito Valdez, and Monguito Conjunto. He played behind Eartha Kitt
in 1955. In 1960 he toured with Herbie Mann
and recorded with Max Roach
. He recorded with Al Cohn
in 1961, and recorded with Freddie Hubbard
, Buddy Rich
, and Larry Coryell
in the 1960s. From 1963 to 1969 Mantilla led his own band in Puerto Rico
, and in 1970 joined forces with Max Roach's percussion ensemble, M'Boom
.
Mantilla was a member of Art Blakey
's Jazz Messengers in the 1970s, during which time the ensemble toured the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Following this he recorded with Gato Barbieri
, Joe Farrell
(1974), Richie Cole
, Don Pullen
(1976–77), Charles Mingus
(1977–78), Walter Bishop, Jr.
, and Morgana King
(1979). He toured Cuba
with Dizzy Gillespie
in 1977.
In 1979 he founded his own ensemble, the Ray Mantilla Space Station, and through the 1980s toured or recorded with Muhal Richard Abrams
, Kenny Burrell
, Shirley Scott
, and Warren Chiasson
. In 1991 he put together a new ensemble, the Jazz Tribe.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
drummer
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
. He has played as a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
and toured with some of the most significant jazz musicians of his time. Mantilla has been bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
of his own ensembles and was a founding member of the percussion ensemble M'Boom
M'Boom
M'Boom was an American jazz percussion ensemble founded in 1970 and led by Max Roach. Although originally a sextet in 1970 over the years the group had as many as ten members in the ensemble but the core of Roy Brooks, Joe Chambers, Omar Clay, Max Roach, Warren Smith and Freddie Waits appear on...
, with Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
.
Biography
Mantilla played in New York from the 1950s, inspired by Afro-Cuban jazzAfro-Cuban jazz
Afro-Cuban jazz is an early form of Latin jazz that mixes Afro-Cuban rhythms with harmonies and musical timbre typical of Bebop. It was developed in the early 1940s by both Cuban musicians and Jazz musicians, with Dizzy Gillespie, Mario Bauza, Machito and Stan Kenton among some of the most notable...
. He played with a number of latin jazz
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
ensembles in the 1950s, including the La Playa Sextet, Xavier Cugat
Xavier Cugat
Xavier Cugat was a Spanish-American bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a key personality in the spread of Latin music in United States popular music. He was also a cartoonist and a successful businessman...
, Lou Perez
Lou Perez
Lou Perez is an American professional wrestler who has competed in North American promotions including the National Wrestling Alliance and World Championship Wrestling during the late 1980s and early 1990s as well as the Puerto Rican-based promotion IWA Puerto Rico.Although billed as the younger...
, René Touzet
René Touzet
René Touzet y Monte was a Cuban-born American composer, pianist and bandleader.-Career as bandleader:...
, Miguelito Valdez, and Monguito Conjunto. He played behind Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...
in 1955. In 1960 he toured with Herbie Mann
Herbie Mann
Herbert Jay Solomon , better known as Herbie Mann, was a Jewish American jazz flutist and important early practitioner of world music...
and recorded with Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
. He recorded with Al Cohn
Al Cohn
Al Cohn was an American jazz saxophonist and arranger and composer.-Biography:Alvin Gilbert Cohn was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was initially known in the 1940s for playing in Woody Herman's Second Herd as one of the Four Brothers, along with Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, and Serge Chaloff...
in 1961, and recorded with Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, Buddy Rich
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...
, and Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell is an American jazz fusion guitarist.-Biography:Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas. He graduated from Richland High School, in Richland, Washington, where he played in local bands The Jailers, The Rumblers, The Royals, and The Flames. He also played with The Checkers from nearby...
in the 1960s. From 1963 to 1969 Mantilla led his own band in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, and in 1970 joined forces with Max Roach's percussion ensemble, M'Boom
M'Boom
M'Boom was an American jazz percussion ensemble founded in 1970 and led by Max Roach. Although originally a sextet in 1970 over the years the group had as many as ten members in the ensemble but the core of Roy Brooks, Joe Chambers, Omar Clay, Max Roach, Warren Smith and Freddie Waits appear on...
.
Mantilla was a member of Art Blakey
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
's Jazz Messengers in the 1970s, during which time the ensemble toured the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Following this he recorded with Gato Barbieri
Gato Barbieri
Leandro Barbieri , better known as Gato Barbieri , is an Argentinean jazz tenor saxophonist and composer who rose to fame during the free jazz movement in the 1960s and from his latin jazz recordings in the 1970s.-Biography:Born to a family of musicians, Barbieri began playing music...
, Joe Farrell
Joe Farrell
Joseph Carl Firrantello , known as Joe Farrell, was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. He is best known for a series of albums under his own name on the CTI record label and for playing in the initial incarnation of Chick Corea's Return to Forever.-Biography:Farrell was born in Chicago...
(1974), Richie Cole
Richie Cole (musician)
Richie Cole is a jazz alto saxophonist composer and arranger born in Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. and is a graduate of Ewing High School, Ewing New Jersey....
, Don Pullen
Don Pullen
Don Pullen was an American jazz pianist and organist. Pullen developed a strikingly individual style throughout his career. He composed masterworks ranging from blues to bebop and modern jazz...
(1976–77), Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
(1977–78), Walter Bishop, Jr.
Walter Bishop, Jr.
Walter Bishop, Jr. was an American bop and hard bop jazz pianist.He was the son of composer Walter Bishop, Sr.. In high school his friends included Kenny Drew, Sonny Rollins, and Art Taylor...
, and Morgana King
Morgana King
Morgana King is an American singer and actress. She is a noted jazz singer, who is regarded as a "musician's singer." The musical œuvre of her stylized vocal artistry spans a period of more than four decades and has an "appeal that bridges generations, tastes and life styles"."She is, like all...
(1979). He toured Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
with Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
in 1977.
In 1979 he founded his own ensemble, the Ray Mantilla Space Station, and through the 1980s toured or recorded with Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams is an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the Free jazz medium. Abrams compresses both contemporary and traditional ideas into lean, elegant pieces.- Biography :Abrams attended DuSable High School in Chicago...
, Kenny Burrell
Kenny Burrell
Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.-Biography:...
, Shirley Scott
Shirley Scott
Shirley Scott was an American hard bop and soul-jazz organist. She was most known for working with her husband, Stanley Turrentine, and with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis...
, and Warren Chiasson
Warren Chiasson
Warren Chiasson is a Canadian jazz vibraphonist who is a pioneer of the four-mallet vibraphone technique.Chiasson was born in Nova Scotia and moved to New York City in 1959. He played with George Shearing from 1959-61 and then split off to form his own group, though he did also play with Chet...
. In 1991 he put together a new ensemble, the Jazz Tribe.
As leader
- Mantilla (Inner City RecordsInner City RecordsInner City Records, an American jazz record label now based in Elmsford, New York, was founded in 1976 by Irv Kratka, owner of Music Minus One, and Eric Kriss, an independent producer. Affiliated labels included Guitar World and Classic Jazz...
, 1978) - Hands of Fire (Red RecordsRed RecordsRed Records is an Italian jazz record label established in 1976.Artists who have recorded for the label include Joe Henderson, Bobby Watson, Billy Higgins, Roberto Gatto, Franco d'Andrea, Dave Liebman, Cedar Walton, Edward Simon, Stafford James, Ray Mantilla, Jim Snidero, Black Note, Julius...
, 1984) - Synergy (Red, 1986)
- Dark Powers (Red, 1988)
- The Next Step (Red, 2000)
- Man-Ti-Ya (Savant Records, 2004)
- Good Vibrations (Savant, 2006)
As sideman
With M'BoomM'Boom
M'Boom was an American jazz percussion ensemble founded in 1970 and led by Max Roach. Although originally a sextet in 1970 over the years the group had as many as ten members in the ensemble but the core of Roy Brooks, Joe Chambers, Omar Clay, Max Roach, Warren Smith and Freddie Waits appear on...
- CollageCollage (M'Boom album)Collage is an album by American jazz percussion ensemble M'Boom led by Max Roach recorded in 1984 for the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:...
(Soul Note, 1984)