Ray Santos

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Ray Santos (New York City, NY, USA, December 28, 1928 - October 17, 2019) was a Grammy Award-winning Latin musician. He was born in New York to Puerto Rican parents. He attended the Juilliard School of Music where he studied saxophone. Santos has played and arranged for such artists as Noro Morales, Machito, Tito Rodriguez, Eddie Palmieri, and Tito Puente among many others. Santos served as music consultant and arranger for the soundtrack of the motion picture The Mambo Kings. He arranged and directed the orchestra for Linda Ronstadt's Frenesí album. Ray Santos taught at the City College of New York for over 20 years, directing the Latin Band. He retired from City College in December 2013 at the age of 84. He continued to stay active in Latin Music. In 2018, Ray Santos contributed arrangements to Eddie Palimieri's Mi Luz Mayor album, on the Uprising Music Label. He died on October 17, 2019 at age 89. Heralded as "El Maestro" of the mambo sound, Ray Santos has performed, composed and arranged music for dozens of premiere Latin orchestras throughout his more than 50-year career, including the big three of Machito, Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez. Santos’ music captures what he calls “the incessant rhythmic drive of the Afro-Cuban sound fused with the power and sonority of Big Band Jazz.” “Honoring our Lifetime and Trustees Awards recipients, as it is the case of Ray Santos, allows The Latin Recording Academy to accomplish a very important part of its Mission, to honor mu

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