This release presents the complete original LP Barretto para bailar, Ray Barretto's debut album as a bandleader. For nearly 40 years, conguero and bandleader Ray Barretto was a leading force in Latin jazz. His hard, captivating playing style graces the recordings of saxophonists Gene Ammons, Lou Donaldson and Sonny Stitt, pianist Red Garland and guitarists Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell.

He is considered to be the first US-born percussionist to integrate the African conga drum into jazz. This fact has made him one of the first "crossover" artists in jazz, who over the course of his long and successful career has skillfully harmonized his Latin American inclinations and his love of bebop.