Inspired by his South Bronx Afro-Cuban roots, percussionist Ray Mantilla rose to prominence in the late '70s after spending the previous decade in bands led by Herbie Mann, Charles Mingus, Joe Farrell, and Gato Barbieri, to mention a scant few. In 1977 Mantilla was selected by Dizzy Gillespie to accompany him to Cuba as the first U.S. band to visit the island since the travel embargo of 1962. Mantilla issued his self-titled leader debut for Inner City in 1978. In the mid-'80s he formed the Ray Mantilla Space Station. The band issued three acclaimed albums; the last of which, Dark Powers in 1989, included Bobby Watson as a guest saxophonist. Mantilla remained active, playing with an astonishing variety of jazz talents including James Spaulding, Max Roach, Watson, Lou Donaldson, and Amina Claudine Myers. In 1998, he assembled the Ray Mantilla European Space Station to record Head Games featuring pianist Fabrizio Puglisi. Mantilla's 21st century tenure with pianist Cedar Walton netted two titles: The Latin Tinge (2002), and The Bouncer in 2011. Two years later, Mantilla released his own outing, The Connection, on HighNote. In 2017, Mantilla took time away from the road and his other sideman projects to release High Voltage. Born in 1934 in the South Bronx, Mantilla's musical career began early. By the time he was in his twenties, he was already performing in New York, blending his Afro-Cuban roots with the contemporary jazz idiom of the time. After becoming a known entity among musicians for his long tenure with Herbie Mann from the early '60s to the mid-'70s, the culmination of Mantilla's upward climb came when he began touring the States, Europe, and Japan with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He remained with Blakey for several years until 1972, when he left to join Max Roach's all-percussion ensemble M’Boom (he remained a member for the rest of Roach's -- and his own -- life). He also managed to work with countless others, including Charles Mingus, Gato Barbieri, Sonny Stitt, Amina Claudine Myers, Diedre Murray and Fred Hopkins, and even James White & the Blacks. His solo debut, Mantilla, surfaced in 1978 on the Inner City label; however, it wasn't until his next album, Hands of Fire (1984, Red), that his solo recording career gained momentum. His group, the Ray Mantilla Space Station, returned two years later with another album for Red, Synergy (1986), followed shortly by Dark Powers featuring Bobby Watson in a guest role. In 1991, he returned with a new band, the Jazz Tribe, but didn't release another album until 2000, Next Step. He then re-formed the Mantilla Space Station for 2004's Man-Ti-Ya. Two years later, he joined pianist Edy Martinez, vibraphonist Mike Freeman, bassist Cucho Martínez, drummer Bill Elder, and percussionist Steve Berrios on Good Vibrations. A similar group with Martínez and Elder was featured on 2013's The Connection. In 2017, Mantilla delivered the Joe Fields-produced High Voltage on Savant Records. In late 2019, Mantilla surrounded himself with his long-time colleagues to prove that the music he made came from the heart as well as from his lifetime of experience. Knowing he was quite ill, he completed the date in early 2020. He passed away just two months later on March 21 from complications due to lymphoma. Rebirth, Mantilla's tenth album as a leader, was issued in late June. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi