With Time Was / Time Is, conga player Ray Barretto, one of the founders of the Fania All Stars, goes back to the periods in his youth when he was first confronted with various types of music. In the liner notes, he refers to the time he first heard Frank Sinatra on the small radio while he was waiting for his mother to return from English lessons, the time he was immediately sold when he first saw
… the Machito Orchestra. saw the time he was on duty and someone threw a quarter in the jukebox with Dizzy Gillespie's and Charlie Parker's Shaw Nuff replacing the usual hillbilly sound. These and many more moments have always stayed with Barretto and are the source of inspiration for Time Was / Time Is, in which Barretto brilliantly shows his whole life. (AD)more
