Born: January 20, 1946 in Brooklyn, New York Active In: 60's, 70's, 80's
Trumpeter and percussionist Ray Maldonado was born January 20, 1946, in Brooklyn, NY, and raised in a bilingual household. His guitarist father gave him a set of bongos and a full trap kit when Maldonado was five, and a couple of years later Ray became fascinated with the trumpet, becoming proficient enough on the instrument to appear on #The Ted Mack Amateur Hour by the time he was 11 years old. He attended the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and the High School of Performing Arts in New York along with his brother, Richard, a talented pianist who would go on to fame under the name Ricardo Ray. By the time Ray Maldonado was in his late teens he had already recorded professionally with the Alegre All Stars and the La Playa Sextet. In 1967 Maldonado moved to the West Coast to join Mongo Santamaria as a horn man and percussionist, and began his career as a session player. In 1975 he began working with Stevie Wonder, providing distinctive horn lines for songs like "Sir Duke," and did additional session work with Ashford & Simpson, Blondie (and later, Debbie Harry), Chic, Sergio Mendes, and Johnny Pacheco, among others. Maldonado's fluid familiarity with jazz, Latin, soul, funk, and rock styles kept him in high demand as a session musician right up until his death on September 13, 1982, of a drug overdose. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
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