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Tim Ray

Perhaps best known as Tony Bennett’s current pianist and musical director, Tim Ray’s wide-ranging skills as a soloist and accompanist have afforded him the opportunity to perform with legendary performers from all walks of music. Appearing on over 100 recordings to date, Tim has performed in concert with an extensive list of pop music icons, notably Aretha Franklin, Lyle Lovett, Jane Siberry and Soul Asylum. He regularly performs with leading figures in the jazz world, among them Kurt Elling, Gary Burton, Esperanza Spalding, Phil Woods, Terri Lyne Carrington, Scott Hamilton, Dave Douglas, John Patitucci, Brian Blade, Lewis Nash and Rufus Reid; and his classical credits include solo performances and concerts with Gunther Schuller, the Boston Pops, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the Boston Classical Orchestra. Tim’s busy schedule has included frequent tours throughout the Americas, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and has included performances at Carnegie Hall, the White House, the Kennedy Center and the 1992 Presidential Inauguration. Tim has also performed repeatedly on “The Tonight Show” (Johnny Carson, Jay Leno), “Late Night with David Letterman,” “The Conan O’Brien Show,” “Austin City Limits” and various other national TV and radio broadcasts. He released his first CD as a leader in 1997 - Ideas & Opinions - on Gunther Schuller’s GM Recordings label, which featured drummer Lewis Nash and bassist Rufus Reid. His second self-led CD was released in 2003 - Tre Corda - and includes Greg Hopkins on trumpet and Eugene Friesen on cello. This “chamber jazz” trio released their next recording in 2013 - Squeaky Toy - which features original compositions and music by Bela Bartok. Tim also has a solo piano CD: On My Own, vol. 1 – New Works, a collection of original compositions and improvisations, and a 2016 jazz trio release for the Whaling City Sounds label, entitled Windows. A sought-after arranger and composer, Tim has penned numerous original works for his trio Tre Corda, for solo piano, big band, string orchestra, and an extensive body of writing for jazz trio and quartet. He is a grant recipient from the National Endowment for the Arts, and is a professor on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music. Tim was previously on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music, has lectured and taught improvisation at Harvard University and MIT, and also conducts workshops and clinics at colleges and high schools throughout the U.S.

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23
Album Review

Tim Ray Trio: Fire & Rain

Read "Fire & Rain" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Boston-based pianist Tim Ray and his rhythm mates, bassist John Lockwood and drummer Mark Walker, have been performing together since 2013, and Fire & Rain is their second recording as a trio. Their years working arm-in-arm and side-by-side have spawned a symbiotic relationship, and it shows. Even when the trio tests the free-jazz waters--as it does only once, on a seat-of-the-pants salute to Chick Corea, “Improv #1 (for Chick)"--everyone is on the same page and no one ...

14
Album Review

Tim Ray Trio: Fire & Rain

Read "Fire & Rain" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Veteran educator and jazz pianist Tim Ray pays homage to some of his musical heroes with a piano trio album simply entitled Fire & Rain. It features various well-known standards from those who have been a major influence in his career, along with three original tunes added to the mix. Joining the pianist on this new adventure are familiar band mates, bassist John Lockwood and drummer Mark Walker, originally together for a Greg Abate concert and then for the Abate ...

11
Album Review

Giacomo Gates: YOU

Read "YOU" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


It is an interesting linguistic and grammatical fact that the word “I," capitalized and without its lower case pal's head-dot, appears only in the English language. It is also the most frequently seen word residing in popular song titles. With You the high priest of hip, Giacomo Gates, turns the tables on that not-so-lonely letter and salutes I's near-runner up, “You" with a “book" of 18 genuinely swinging “Yous." As a jazz singer, Gates has historically been ...

4
Album Review

Dave Zinno: Fetish

Read "Fetish" reviewed by Rob Rosenblum


While it is obvious that bassist Dave Zinno put a lot of thought into the writing and arrangements here, it is the quality of solo performances that gives this album its worthy distinction. Some may be familiar with pianist Tim Ray from his inclusion in the trio backing one of altoist Greg Abate's albums and his own trio outing on Whaling City Sound label. But trumpeter Eric Benny Bloom and most impressively, the tenor mastery of Mike Tucker, were previously ...

21
Album Review

Dave Zinno Unisphere: Fetish

Read "Fetish" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Dave Zinno's New York-based Unisphere is a quintet/sometime sextet that is rhythmically sound, melodically smooth and anchored by his assertive bass lines. The group employs a splendid two-horn front line (tenor saxophonist Mike Tucker, trumpeter Eric Benny Bloom) and adds a third, trombonist/arranger Rafael Rocha, on the freewheeling closer, “Meu Fraco e Cafe Forte" (in English, “My Weakness Is Strong Coffee") but Rocha doesn't solo. The quintet morphs to sextet on five other numbers wherein keyboardist Leo Genovese joins the ...

7
Album Review

Scott Hamilton and Duke Robillard: Swingin' Again

Read "Swingin' Again" reviewed by Kyle Simpler


In 1987, Duke Robillard released the album Swing (Rounder), a successful combination of jazz and jump blues. He got his old friend, tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton to help him out with the recording. Although Robillard is primarily known as a blues guitarist, the record made it obvious that jazz is also deeply rooted in his musical DNA. With Swingin' Again, he revisits the jazz world, and he once again teams up with Hamilton to help him out. Robillard ...

5
Album Review

Douglas Olsen: 2 Cents

Read "2 Cents" reviewed by Jack Bowers


What seems at first blush to be a nonet on this splendid new album is actually trumpeter Douglas Olsen's core quartet, amplified on various selections by talented guests who raise the number anywhere from a quintet to an octet. Even though Olsen has been a super-busy free-lancer on the New England jazz scene for more than two decades, 2 Cents is apparently his first recording date as leader of his own group; with that in mind, perhaps Olsen reasoned it ...

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Fire & Rain

Whaling City Sound
2023

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YOU

Savant Records
2022

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Swingin' Again

Blue Duchess
2021

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Fetish

Whaling City Sound
2021

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Excursions and...

Whaling City Sound
2020

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2 Cents

Self Produced
2020

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The Nearness of You

From: YOU
By Tim Ray

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