Guitarist Ramon Ortiz (Puya/Ankla) has released a new track from his upcoming solo effort Portal. The first single, titled “82512”, can be heard above via his official YouTube channel. The song features percussion by Paoli Mejias of Santana. Ortiz comments on working with Mejias and the track:
I had heard about Paoli’s legendary drumming for a long time but never had seen him perform, which is ironic since we’re both from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Likely because we’re from different musical scenes, he’s more from the Latin Jazz side and I’ve always been more on the rock/metal side. People kept telling me ‘you should do something with him because you’re both doing musical fusion and are both innovators in different genres’. I finally saw him perform with his own band at a Jazzfest in San Juan and I was floored – very high energy Latin Jazz fused with Puerto Rican folklore and his incredible virtuosic conga drum playing. I couldn’t talk to him after the show, but luckily a few days later I ran into him, and congratulated him on his show, and mentioned to him that I had an instrumental track called “82512” which featured a fusion of metal and latin jazz and that I would love him to play conga drums in it. He heard it loved it and put new life into it with his conga drumming style.”
Portal is slated to hit stores on September 15. Pre-orders will begin exclusively through CDBaby beginning on August 18th and include “82512” as an instant download.
