Ray Mantilla – 22/6/1934 - 21/3/2020
Jon Newey
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
The great percussionist and bandleader Ray Mantilla died on 21 March aged 85 at New York’s Columbia University Medical Center due to complications of lymphoma
Bronx born Mantilla was one of the true conga giants during the 1950s, 60s and 70s along with Candido and Ray Barretto, recording hundreds of album sessions and pioneering the use of multiple conga set ups. Among his most famous recordings were Charles Mingus’ Cumbia & Jazz Fusion, Herbie Mann’s Flute, Brass, Vibes and Percussion and Max Roach’s M’Boom.
He took over the conga chair in Mann’s band from Barretto and later joined Max Roach’s percussion project M’Boom before starting to lead his own bands in the mid-1970s. With his Afro-Cuban group Space Station he explored the use of odd time signatures and, in 1991, formed the Jazz Tribe. As a leader he cut nine albums, his most recent being High Voltage, released in 2017, and was working on his next release, Rebirth, when he died.