On Standards Rican-ditioned, the legendary Ray Barretto presents a straight-ahead project with musicians of Puerto Rican descent well versed in jazz. The objective was to show that they could play in an authentic style of the old Blue Note, Riverside and Prestige dates of the 1950s and 60s, in song selections from the "Great American Songbook". Recorded in December 2005, only a few weeks prior to his untimely death, it is the stunning yet gently farewell by the great conguero - no doubt a milestone in the musical life of Ray Barretto. Ray Barrettocompleted and approved the mixes of all but the last track, "Strange Music". His 20year-old son Chris plays cong on this tune, and oversaw the final mixing and mastering of the recording. This session was also one of the last by the great pianist Hilton Ruiz, who passed away in June 2006 from injuries received from an accident during a visit to Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Standards Rican-ditioned stands as a milestone in Ray Barretto's rich five-decade recording career, covering Latin jazz, straight-ahead jazz and salsa in a unique Puerto Rican all-stars format.