Raymond Russell is an English

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

and experimental jazz rock guitarist. He is also a

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. Russell made his professional debut as Vic Flick's replacement as lead guitarist in the John Barry Seven.

Session guitarist

In 1973 he was a member of the band Mouse, which released a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

album entitled ''Lady Killer'' for the Sovereign

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

Composition in TV/film

In 1963, Russell assumed Vic Flick's position as lead guitarist of the John Barry Seven. He played on the soundtracks for

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

films - Moonraker, You only live twice,

Octopussy ''Octopussy'' is a 1983 spy film and the thirteenth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sixth to star Roger Moore as the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 agent James Bond filmography, J ...

, Thunderball, Live and let die, The man with the Golden Gun, and The spy who loved me. Russell was later employed by George Harrison's company HandMade Films and played for the film scores of '' Monty Python's Life of Brian'', ''

Water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

'' and ''

Time Bandits ''Time Bandits'' is a 1981 British fantasy adventure film co-written, produced, and directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars David Rappaport, Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael ...

''. Russell's TV compositions have included '' A Touch of Frost'', for which he won a Royal society Television Award, '' Bergerac'', '' Plain Jane'', ''

A Bit of a Do A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''English alphabet#Letter names, a'' (pronounced ), plural ...

'', '' Rich Tea and Sympathy'', '' The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries'', Dangerfield ''and

Grafters ''Grafters'' was a British drama–comedy programme originally broadcast in the United Kingdom, UK on ITV (TV network), ITV from 27 October 1998 to 20 December 1999 for 16 episodes over two series. ''Grafters'' relates the lives of the Purvis ...

'', as well as ''The Murder of Meredith Kercher'' and BBC's ''Hooded Men''. He also played in the DVD ''Simon Phillips Returns'' with Simon Phillips and Anthony Jackson. Russell was composer for British TV Detective series '' A Touch of Frost -'' series 6-15 between 1999-2010.6 He released an album ''A Touch of FrostT'' in 2003 which featured David Jason as Frost on the cover. In 2008 Russell, drummer Ralph Salmins, and

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...

Rik Walton created Made Up Music, a music library that distributes music on its web site and by sending portable hard drives to music editors. In March 2020, Russell featured on an episode of the

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

programme '' Antiques Roadshow'', in which his fretless six-string electric guitar, made by Bartell and gifted to him by

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

, having originally belonged to

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

, was valued at £300,000-£400,000.

Discography

* ''Turn Circle'' (CBS, 1968) * ''Dragon Hill'' (CBS, 1969) * ''June 11, 1971: Live at the ICA'' (RCA Victor, 1971) * ''Rites & Rituals'' (CBS, 1971) * ''Secret Asylum'' (Black Lion, 1973) * ''Ready or Not'' (DJM, 1977) * ''This Side Up'' (B&W, 1989) * ''A Table Near the Band'' (Angel Air, 1990) * ''Guitars from Mars'' (Virgin, 1990) * ''Why Not Now'' (1988) * ''Childscape'' (1990) with Gil Evans and Mark Isham * ''June 11th 1971: Live at the ICA / Retrospective'' (Mokai, 2000) * ''A Touch of Frost'' (Universal, 2003) * ''The Composer's Cut'' (Angel Air, 2005) * ''Goodbye Svengali'' (

Cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

, 2006) * ''Myths & Legends'' (Strip Sounds, 2007) * ''Now, More Than Ever'' (Abstract Logix, 2013) * ''The Celestial Squid'' with Henry Kaiser (Cuneiform, 2015) * ''Fluid Architecture'' (Cuneiform, 2020)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Ray 1947 births Living people Military personnel from the London Borough of Islington People from Islington (district) Cuneiform Records artists English television composers English male composers English jazz guitarists English male guitarists English session musicians Nucleus (band) members English male jazz musicians RMS (band) members Black Lion Records artists Musicians from the London Borough of Islington