Very early work from the team of Ricardo Ray and Bobby Cruz – a stone cooker that shows that they were perfectly matched, right from the start! The rhythms are super-tight – way more so than on later recordings – and the instrumentation has all the jazzy flourishes that really seem to set the vocals soaring – a fluid, soulful style that really shows the changes this young pair were bringing to Latin music at the time! The whole thing's great – not really Latin soul, but a great precursor, with equally open energy – as you'll hear on cuts that include "Viva Richie Ray", "Yenyere Jala Jala", "Bravo De Verdad", "Mi Guaguanco", "El Montuno De Hoy", and "Pachanga Medley".
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