Jeff Ray

Jeff Ray: The Walkup

by C. Michael Bailey
March 25, 2004

I might have completely written this disc off as simply another anemic adult contemporary offering for the Rippingtons/Shadowfax lemmings had I not made it five tracks deep to the title cut. There I found the greasy guitar-organ funk running deep. “The Walkup" has an insistent groove established by guitarist and leader Jeff Ray and maintained by bassist Darryl Hall. Drummer Victor Wise provides the song its underpinning and Aaron Swinn adds the fat calories with his salt pork B3. This ...

Jeff Ray: The Walkup

by Eric J. Iannelli
November 4, 2003

After four years spent cutting his teeth in clarinetist Darryl Harper's jazz project The Onus, the Ohio native Jeff Ray has released his debut solo recording, a largely self-penned collection of extended electric jams and a collage of musical genres. "Solo recording," however, is a descriptive term that offers quite a lot of slack. The overall impression of The Walkup – named for the urban stretch between Ray's flat and the Harlem jazz hotspot St. Nick's Pub ...

Jeff Ray: The Walkup

by Franz A. Matzner
October 3, 2003

Fully embracing electric jazz, Jeff Ray’s new release Walk Up is a politely laid-back jam album dominated by Ray originals. The combination of Ray’s guitar and Aaron Swinn’s soft keyboard work with Daryl Hall’s electric bass and Victor Wise’s seventies-influenced drumming creates a consistently mellow atmosphere. Tunes like “Hot Music" and album highlight, “Cinnamon Lenses," offer solid grooves and bass flourishes, while the album’s most adventurous piece, “Wise Ton J," combines a funky beat with a shifting ...

CD Listening Party for Guitarist Jeff Ray, NYC

Source: All About Jazz
March 25, 2004

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Early Praise for Jeff Ray's The Walkup

Source: All About Jazz
October 7, 2003

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N.Y. Guitarist Jeff Ray to Serve Up Jazz-Funk at Perk's

Source: All About Jazz

For Immediate Release

Contact: Tony Haywood, HiPNOTIC RECORDS,(202) 547-0541, [email protected]

The past few years have found Toledo-bred/Rutgers-trained/Harlem-based guitarist Jeff Ray traversing the isle of Manhattan, soaking in scenes and honing his own soulful sound as a sideman in a variety of improvisational-music contexts from Co-op City to the Zinc Bar, from the Soul Cafe to Jimmy's Uptown, to late-night sessions at St. Nick's Pub. Meanwhile, between the scenes, in his uptown hideout, our sponge-eared nimble-fingered guitar-hero-in-waiting ...
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