Beginning his career with Latin music greats such as Xavier Cugat and Monguito Conjunto, Ray has played with such wildly diverse personalities as Eartha Kitt, Freddie Hubbard, Larry Coryell, Morgana King, Gato Barbieri, Cedar Walton, Michael Urbaniak, Kenny Burrell, Shirley Scott and countless others. Together with Max Roach, he was a founding member of the popular percussion ensemble M'Boom. Here is a lesson in Latin music from the man who perhaps knows it best, having helped define it's evolution during the course of his remarkable career, Ray Mantilla.