Raymond Mantilla was born June 22, 1934 at St. Francis Hospital in the Bronx. His father was an architect and engineer from Peru; his mother owned a bodega. Though the Mantillas were a part of the New York diasporic community known as Nuyoricans, Ray liked to refer to himself as a “Peruvo-rican.”

From his earliest years, Mantilla was part of what would become the most influential cadre of salsa and Afro-Latin jazz musicians. His circle of friends in the South Bronx included, among others, pianist Eddie Palmieri, flutist Johnny Pacheco, and Barretto—his closest friend, with whom he spent countless hours playing.

Barretto introduced Mantilla to Herbie Mann in 1960; the two congueros played together with Mann for nearly two years, including the sessions for the flutist’s classic album Flute, Brass, Vibes & Percussion. Barretto left Mann in late 1961, leaving Mantilla to become the band’s primary percussionist.

Mantilla also freelanced heavily: on Barretto’s albums, drummer Max Roach’s seminal 1960 We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, and (later) Charles Mingus’ final recordings, as well as sessions with saxophonists Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Richie Cole, pianist Cedar Walton, and guitarist Larry Coryell. In 1972, he became a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, though he left the following year to join Max Roach’s all-percussion ensemble M’Boom. (He would return to perform with Blakey and the Messengers on several subsequent occasions.) In 1977, he joined trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie as part of the first band to perform in Cuba since the Kennedy-era travel embargo.