Ray Bryant
| Ray Bryant | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Raphael Homer Bryant |
| Born | December 24, 1931 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Origin | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | 1940s–2000s |
Raphael Homer "Ray" Bryant (December 24, 1931 – June 2, 2011)[1] was an American jazz pianist and composer.
Contents
Early life
Born in Philadelphia, Ray Bryant began playing the piano at the age of six, also performing on bass in junior high school.[2] He turned professional before his age of majority. Bryant's brothers were the bass player Tommy Bryant (May 21, 1930 – March 1, 1982) and Len Bryant, who plays drums and is also a singer.
Later life and career
In 1948-49 Bryant toured with guitarist Tiny Grimes.[2] He was house pianist at the Blue Note club in Philadelphia[3] from 1953 to 1956, accompanying many other leading players such as Lester Young, Jo Jones, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Sonny Stitt.[2] He also played with Sonny Rollins, Melba Liston, and Coleman Hawkins, as well as singers Carmen McRae and Aretha Franklin. Bryant later resided in Detroit, Michigan. From the late 1950s, he led a trio, performing throughout the world, and also worked solo. He toured Europe regularly after appearing at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1973.[2] In addition, he was a noted jazz composer, with well-known themes such as "Cubano Chant", "The Madison Time", "Monkey Business", and "Little Susie" to his credit.
Both Tommy and Ray Bryant formed a trio with Oz Perkins as the back-up band for the off-Broadway run of the comedy show Cambridge Circus, at Square East in 1964. The show starred John Cleese, Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor, David Hatch, Jo Kendall, Graham Chapman, Jonathan Lynn, and Jean Hart.
Bryant died in 2011 at the age of 79 in Queens, New York, after a long illness.[3][4]
Family
The musicians Kevin Eubanks, Duane Eubanks, and Robin Eubanks are his nephews, whose mother is Bryant's sister Vera Eubanks, a pianist and organist specializing in gospel music.[5] Jennifer Bryant, who is Len Bryant's daughter, is a singer-songwriter and producer.
Discography
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As leader
- 1955: Meet Betty Carter and Ray Bryant (Columbia)
- 1957: Ray Bryant Trio (Prestige)
- 1958: Alone with the Blues (New Jazz)
- 1959: Ray Bryant Plays (Signature)
- 1959: Little Suzie (Columbia)
- 1960: Madison Time (Columbia)
- 1961: Con Alma (Columbia)
- 1961: Dancing the Big Twist (Columbia)
- 1962: Hollywood Jazz Beat (Columbia)
- 1963: Groove House (Sue)
- 1964: Ray Bryant at Basin Street East (Sue)
- 1964: Cold Turkey (Sue)
- 1964: Soul (Sue)
- 1966: Gotta Travel On (Cadet)
- 1966: Lonesome Traveler (Cadet)
- 1966: Slow Freight (Cadet)
- 1967: The Ray Bryant Touch (Cadet)
- 1967: Take a Bryant Step (Cadet)
- 1968: Up Above the Rock (Cadet)
- 1969: Sound Ray (Cadet)
- 1970: MCMLXX (Atlantic)
- 1972: Alone at Montreux (Atlantic)
- 1974: In the Cut (Cadet)
- 1975: Hot Turkey (Black & Blue)
- 1976: Here's Ray Bryant (Pablo)
- 1976: Solo Flight (Pablo)
- 1977: Montreux '77 (Pablo)
- 1978: All Blues (Pablo)
- 1980: Potpourri (Pablo)
- 1987: Ray Bryant Today (EmArcy)
- 1987: Plays Basie & Ellington (EmArcy)
- 1988: Blue Moods(EmArcy)
- 1988: Golden Earrings (EmArcy)
- 1989: All Mine...And Yours (EmArcy)
- 1991: Ray Bryant Plays Blues and Ballads (Jazz Connaisseur)
- 1992: Through the Years Volume 1 (EmArcy)
- 1992: Through the Years Volume 2 (EmArcy)
- 1993: Somewhere in France (Label M)
- 1994: No Problem (EmArcy)
- 1994: Inimitable (Jazz Connaisseur)
- 1994: Ray Bryant Meets Ray Brown + 1 Double RB (EmArcy)
- 1995: Solo Live in Tokyo - Plays Blues And Boogie (EmArcy)
- 1997: North of the Border (Label M)
- 1997: Ray's Tribute to His Jazz Piano Friends (JVC Music)
- 2008: In The Back Room (Evening Star)
As sideman
With Art Blakey
- Drum Suite (Columbia, 1957)
With Arnett Cobb
- Party Time (Prestige, 1959)
With Miles Davis
- Quintet / Sextet (Prestige, 1955)
With Dizzy Gillespie
- Duets (Verve, 1957)
- The Greatest Trumpet of Them All (Verve, 1957)
- Sonny Side Up (Verve, 1957) - with Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt
With Benny Golson
- Benny Golson and the Philadelphians (United Artists, 1958)
- Gone with Golson (New Jazz, 1959)
- Groovin' with Golson (New Jazz, 1959)
With Tiny Grimes
- Blues Groove (Prestige, 1958) - with Coleman Hawkins
- Callin' the Blues (Prestige, 1958) - with J. C. Higginbotham
- Tiny in Swingville (Swingville, 1959) - with Jerome Richardson
With Coleman Hawkins
With Jo Jones
- The Essential Jo Jones (Vanguard 1977)
With Clifford Jordan
- Cliff Jordan (Blue Note, 1957)
With Yusef Lateef
- The Gentle Giant (Atlantic, 1971)
- Hush 'N' Thunder (Atlantic, 1972)
- Part of the Search (Atlantic, 1973)
With Lee Morgan
- City Lights (Blue Note, 1957)
With Oliver Nelson
- Meet Oliver Nelson (Prestige, 1959)
With Max Roach
- Max Roach + 4 (EmArcy, 1956)
- Jazz in ¾ Time (EmArcy, 1956–57)
- Moon Faced and Starry Eyed (Mercury, 1959)
With Sonny Rollins
- Sonny Rollins on Impulse! (MCA Impulse! 29054, 1965)
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Feather, Leonard & Gitler, Ira (2007). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Scott Yanow, Ray Bryant biography, AllMusic.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Peter Vacher, "Ray Bryant obituary", The Guardian, June 8, 2011.
External links
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- Articles with hCards
- Articles using small message boxes
- 1931 births
- 2011 deaths
- American jazz pianists
- Bebop pianists
- Jazz-blues pianists
- Mainstream jazz pianists
- Musicians from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Soul-jazz pianists
- Sue Records artists
- Prestige Records artists
- 20th-century pianists
- 20th-century American musicians
