Raphael Homer "Ray" Bryant (December 24, 1931 – June 2, 2011) was an American
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
pianist, composer, and arranger.
Early life
Bryant was born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
, on December 24, 1931. His mother was an ordained minister who had taught herself to play the piano; his father also played the piano and sang. His brothers were the bass player Tommy, drummer and singer Len, and Lynwood. Ray began playing the piano around the age of six or seven, following the example of his mother and his sister, Vera. Gospel influences in his playing came from being part of the church at this stage in his early life. He had switched from classical music to jazz by his early teens and played the double bass at junior high school. He was first paid to play when he was 12: "I would play for dances, and they'd sneak me into bars. I'd get four or five bucks a night, which was good money then." He turned professional aged 14, and immediately joined a local band led by Mickey Collins.
Later life and career
1946–1958
After three years working on and off in Collins's band, Bryant toured with guitarist Tiny Grimes (1948–49).Feather, Leonard, and
Ira Gitler
Ira Gitler (December 18, 1928 – February 23, 2019) was an American jazz historian and journalist. The co-author of ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' with Leonard Feather—the most recent edition appeared in 1999—he wrote hundreds of ...
(2007). ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz''. Oxford University Press. He was then a solo pianist based in
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...
for a year. After returning to Philadelphia, he played
Dixieland
Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...
in Billy Kretchmer's club for around two years. He attracted more attention after becoming house pianist at the Blue Note club in Philadelphia in 1953. He was there until 1956, accompanying many leading players such as
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist.
Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most i ...
,
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...
,
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...
, and
Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt (born Edward Hammond Boatner Jr.; February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982) was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his era, recording over ...
. Davis and
Sonny Rollins
Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians.
In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...
both liked Bryant's playing enough to record with him in New York in 1955: on '' Quintet/Sextet'' and ''
Work Time
''Work Time'' is an album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, recorded for the Prestige Records, Prestige label, featuring performances by Rollins with Ray Bryant, George Morrow (bassist), George Morrow, and Max Roach.
These albums were for
Prestige Records
Prestige Records is a jazz record company and label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock in New York City which issued recordings in the mainstream, bop, and cool jazz idioms. The company recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz music ...
, for whom Bryant "began a period as an occasional house pianist", also recording with "Art Taylor (1957), Tiny Grimes and Coleman Hawkins (both 1958–9), ..and as a leader (1957–8)." In this period, he was also the accompanist for singer
Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretati ...
(1956–57). Bryant was a member of trumpeter
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...
's small and big bands for four months in 1957. Bryant recorded under drummer
Art Blakey
Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s.
Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...
for several studio albums in 1957–58. Decades later, he commented: "The sessions I recorded with him helped put me on the map as a musician". Bryant was also part of drummer
Jo Jones
Jonathan David Samuel Jones (October 7, 1911 – September 3, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. A band leader and pioneer in jazz percussion, Jones anchored the Count Basie Orchestra rhythm section from 1934 to 1948. He was sometimes k ...
's trio in 1958. The pianist was able to learn from Jones: "He could sense when you weren't relaxed and would say, 'Take your time and breathe!' He also taught me about pacing a set. I still use his format today," commented Bryant around 2004.
1959–1971
Bryant settled in New York in 1959. There, he played both mainstream jazz and the newer
hard bop
Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospe ...
. His earlier period at the Blue Note in Philadelphia helped him get work, as he already knew a lot of the musicians who were based in New York.
For three months in 1959, Bryant was the pianist in singer
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...
Arnett Cobb
Arnett Cleophus Cobb (August 10, 1918 – March 24, 1989) accessed July 2010. was an American tenor saxophonist, somet ...
,
Benny Golson
Benny Golson (January 25, 1929 – September 21, 2024) was an American bebop and hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a p ...
Oliver Nelson
Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. His 1961 Impulse! album '' The Blues and the Abstract Truth'' (1961) is regarded as one of the most signi ...
Grady Tate
Grady Tate (January 14, 1932 – October 8, 2017) was an American jazz and soul-jazz drummer and baritone vocalist. In addition to his work as sideman, Tate released many albums as leader and lent his voice to songs in the animated ''Schoolhou ...
, and
Freddie Waits
Frederick Douglas Waits (April 27, 1943 – November 18, 1989) was an American hard bop and post-bop drummer.
Waits never officially recorded as leader, but was a prominent member and composer in Max Roach's M'Boom percussion ensemble. He work ...
. He formed his own trio and was signed by producer and talent scout John Hammond to
in 1960. Their first album contained the hit single "Little Susie", a blues created when Bryant was with Jones.
Signature Records
Signature Records was a jazz record company and label founded in 1939 by Bob Thiele when he was 17 years old. Its roster included Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines, Erroll Garner, and Lester Young.
At age 14, Thiele was a disc jockey for his own jazz ...
responded immediately by releasing their own version of Bryant playing the same tune. This version, sold as "Little Susie (Part 4)", reached No. 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot R&B chart.
Hammond also paired Bryant with singer
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
with Hammond when the Madison dance craze was developing and, at the producer's suggestion, adapted an earlier composition for the dance – it was renamed "Madison Time". This reached No. 30 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1960. Another Bryant single – "Sack o' Woe" – appeared on the R&B chart in 1961.
In 1963, Bryant switched to
Sue Records
''Sue Records was also the name of a Louisiana-based record company which owned Jewel Records (Shreveport record label).''
Sue Records ("The Sound of Soul") was an American record label founded by Juggy Murray, Henry 'Juggy' Murray and Bobby Robins ...
and recorded the first of four albums for the label. Three years later he was with
Cadet Records
Cadet Records was an American record label that began as Argo Records in 1955 as the jazz subsidiary of Chess Records. Argo changed its name in 1965 to Cadet to avoid confusion with the similarly named label in the UK. Cadet stopped releasing ...
, "which recorded him in a variety of contexts, from trio to orchestral. The range of material was also varied, mixing jazz standards with pop hits of the day." Despite not having studied arranging formally, Bryant also fulfilled this role for several horn and strings charts for Cadet.
He had another top 100 hit with a cover version of
Bobbie Gentry
Bobbie Gentry (born Roberta Lee Streeter; July 27, 1942) is an American retired singer-songwriter. She was one of the first female artists in the United States to compose and produce her own material.
Gentry rose to international fame in 1967 ...
's " Ode to Billie Joe" in 1967. The crossover success that Bryant had irritated some jazz purists, but the pianist maintained that he was unconcerned and had been playing such material in clubs for years before the recordings became commercially successful.
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
John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...
,
Bill Oddie
William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English actor, artist, birder, comedian, conservationist, musician, songwriter, television presenter and writer. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies.
A birder since his childhood in Quinton ...
,
Tim Brooke-Taylor
Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor (17 July 194012 April 2020) was an English actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of The Goodies.
Brooke-Taylor became active in performing in comedy sketches while at the University of Cambridge and beca ...
,
David Hatch
Sir David Edwin Hatch, (7 May 1939 – 13 June 2007) "''Just a Minute''" site w ...
Graham Chapman
Graham Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the Surreal humour, surrealist comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel (Monty Py ...
,
Jonathan Lynn
Jonathan Adam Lynn (born 3 April 1943) is an English film director, screenwriter, and actor. He directed the comedy films '' Clue'', '' Nuns on the Run'', '' My Cousin Vinny'', and '' The Whole Nine Yards''. He also co-created and co-wrote the ...
, and
Jean Hart
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* Jea ...
.
1972–2011
"It was usually in a trio, duo or solo context that Bryant chose to perform and record for the remainder of his career". A performance at the 1972
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...
led to Bryant also getting more work as a solo pianist. This was his first trip to Europe and Bryant was nervous about playing to an audience of thousands, but the performance was a success, and was released as the album '' Alone at Montreux'' by
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
. He also toured Europe frequently from the 1970s. He also played electric piano in the 1970s.
In 1982, he was the guest on
Marian McPartland
Margaret Marian McPartland Order of the British Empire, OBE ( Turner;Hasson, Claire, . PhD Thesis. Retrieved 12 August 2008. 20 March 1918 – 20 August 2013), was an English and American jazz pianist, composer, and writer. She was the host of ...
's ''
Piano Jazz
''Piano Jazz'' is a weekly one-hour radio show produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). It began on June 4, 1978, and was hosted by jazz pianist Marian McPartland (1918–2013) until 2011. It is the longest-running cultural pr ...
'' radio program. In the following year, he played in New York in a trio led by saxophonist
Buddy Tate
George Holmes "Buddy" Tate (February 22, 1913 – February 10, 2001) was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.
Biography
Tate was born in Sherman, Texas, United States, and first played the alto saxophone. According to the website All Ab ...
.
Between 1976 and 1980, Bryant recorded five albums for
Pablo Records
Pablo Records was a jazz record company and label founded by Norman Granz in 1973, more than a decade after he had sold his earlier catalog (including Verve Records) to MGM Records.
Pablo initially featured recordings by acts that Granz managed ...
. For the following seven years, he did not record as a leader: "The record companies didn't bother me and I didn't bother them", he later commented. This ended when an admiring producer for Japanese Polygram recruited him: Bryant recorded 10 albums for them (also released on EmArcy) between 1987 and 1995. His 1989 album ''All Mine and Yours'' contained only his own compositions, and was recorded while touring Japan.
In the mid-1990s he recorded with Ray Brown and
Lewis Nash
Lewis Nash (born December 30, 1958) is an American jazz drummer. According to ''Modern Drummer'' magazine, Nash has one of the longest discographies in jazz and has played on over 400 records, earning him the honor of Jazz's Most Valuable Play ...
as a trio, toured internationally as an unaccompanied soloist, and visited Japan and Europe in the group 100 Golden Fingers". He played with
Benny Golson
Benny Golson (January 25, 1929 – September 21, 2024) was an American bebop and hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a p ...
in New York in 1997.
In the 2000s, most of his performances were in Europe and Japan, and he reduced his schedule. Solo piano recordings from performances at
Rutgers University
Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
in 2004 and 2008 were released on the CD ''In the Back Room''.
Bryant died on June 2, 2011, at the age of 79 in
Queens, New York
Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
Robin Eubanks
Robin Eubanks (born October 25, 1955) is an American jazz and jazz fusion slide trombonist, the brother of guitarist Kevin Eubanks and trumpeter Duane Eubanks. Younger brother Shane Eubanks, twin to Duane Eubanks, is a DJ. His uncles are jazz p ...
are the sons of Bryant's sister, Vera.
Playing and composing style
Bryant's style was initially influenced by pianists
Art Tatum
Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever. From early in his career, fellow musicians acclaimed Tatum's technical ability as extraordinary. Tatum a ...
and
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was an American jazz pianist. Described by critic Scott Yanow as "the definitive Swing music, swing pianist", Wilson's piano style was gentle, elegant, and virtuosic. His style was high ...
, but blues and gospel elements soon grew stronger in his playing. Bryant was not known as an innovator, but had a readily recognisable style of his own. Bryant said that he liked to transfer elements of the
Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
Orchestra to the piano. A writer commented that Bryant's "solo works are often like carefully crafted sonatas with dramatic changes in mood, tempo and dynamics".
"Bryant had a firm touch and an unshakable sense of time, notably in his left hand, which he often used to build a bedrock vamp. Even in a bebop setting, he favored the ringing tonalities of the gospel church." "In his solo playing, ..he often played blues figures in the right hand against stride or boogie-woogie patterns in the left. On his recordings as an accompanist the influence of blues and boogie-woogie is less strong and he plays in a variety of styles."
Bryant was also a composer, with well-known themes such as "Cubano Chant", "The Madison Time", "Monkey Business", and "Little Susie" to his credit. He said that he did not consciously endeavor to compose music: "An idea will just come to me while I'm doing something else and if it sticks, I develop it into a tune." Ed Berger wrote in ''
JazzTimes
''JazzTimes'' was an American print magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store.
Coverage
After a decade ...
'' that his compositions "share many of the attractive melodic and rhythmic qualities that make his playing so widely accessible", and vary in style from Latin, blues-based, to more lyrical ballads, waltzes and calypsos.