Ray Santos Receives The Latin Recording Academy’s 2011 Trustees Award

Mambo innovator Ray Santos has received The Latin Recording Academy’s 2011 Trustees Award. Heralded as “El Maestro” of the mambo sound, Ray Santos has performed, composed and arranged music for dozens of premiere Latin orchestras throughout his more than 50 year career.

He has produced music for several projects, including films such as The Mambo Kings and arranged music on Linda Ronstadt’s Frenesi and Paquito D’Rivera’s Tropicana Nights, both GRAMMY-winning albums.

For more than 25 years, Santos has been a music educator at the City College of New York and frequently lectures at colleges and universities throughout the United States. Among his many accolades, Santos has received the Chico O’Farrill Lifetime Achievement Award and Bobby Capo Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2003 he was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame.

Trustees Award: This Special Award is presented by vote of The Latin Recording Academy’s Trustees to individuals who have made significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording during their careers.