Papo Felix Meets Ray Rodriguez - 1971 - Papo Felix Meets Ray Rodriguez

Papo Felix Meets Ray Rodriguez

1971

Papo Felix Meets Ray Rodriguez

01. Para Puerto Rico Voy

02. Work Out (Part 1)

03. Hechate Pa Ya

04. Senor Flauta

05. Felix The Cat

06. Work Out (Part 2)

07. Solo Me Admiras

08. Bob And Bill In E Minor

Produced By Joe Bataan & George Febo

All Arrangements & Music by Bob Rodriguez

Music Direction By Joe Bataan

Originally recorded at BWAY Sound

Engineer – Jat Jacques

Album Design – Izzy Sanabria & Ralph Mulett

One of Ghetto Records most lauded recordings containing epic examples of Big Band Salsa, Horace Silver-flavored Modal Jazz and Soulful Grooves - masterminded by a young Bobby RodrÌguez with vocals by Papo Felix. Ghetto Records was Joe Bataan’s way to get over on “The Man” and out of the ‘hood, a bold move by an artist looking for independence and creative control in an industry that had exploited his talents and treated him like chattel. As Bataan puts it today, “Ghetto Records was part of my journey, a stepping stone to everything else that I’ve done. I learned enough that it enabled me to get out of the box with my thinking, it showed me how to deal with adversity.” Like many dreams and schemes born of the street, this one was audacious, perhaps even reckless to a fault. Hatched from desperation yet full of hope Ghetto Records came crashing down

A killer set of New York Latin from vocalist Papo Felix and bandleader Ray Rodriguez – recorded slightly after the Latin Soul generation, but done with plenty of dark little edges – thanks to production from Joe Bataan! There's a bit of salsa in the mix here, and a bit of descarga jazz too – all coming together in a tightly rhythmic mode that's almost better than most of the bigger name work coming from the scene at the time. Most tunes have a sharp, catchy sort of groove – definitely an heir to the Latin Soul sound.