Ray Drummond Corner

[mjzee]

Back in the late '70's - early '80's, it seemed like Ray Drummond was everywhere.  I was reminded of this because I recently acquired the Japanese reissue of Ted Curson's "The Trio" (originally released in the USA on Interplay).  Curson, Drummond, and Roy Haynes, playing magnificently.

I don't know that Drummond's recorded much recently.  What are some of your favorites?

So I was curious, and looked at Drummond's Wikipedia page.  I found this: "He is the elder brother of David Drummond, senior vice president, corporate development and chief legal officer of Google Inc."

[HutchFan]

A great bassist!  

Ray Drummond had an outstanding run of releases on Arabesque Jazz in the Nineties:
- Excursion ‎(1993)
- Continuum ‎(1994)
- Vignettes ‎(1996)
- 1.2.3.4 ‎(1999)
Hard to choose between them. They're all excellent.

I also really like Drummond's debut LP, Susanita (Nilva, 1984).

Also, I think Drummond's sideman work for Ronnie Mathews was particularly strong:
- Roots, Branches & Dances (Bee Hive, 1979)
- Song for Leslie (Red, 1980)
- So Sorry Please... (Nilva, 1985)

 

[jlhoots]

I remember seeing him in person with Joanne Brackeen.

[Peter Friedman]

Drummond as a sideman recorded some wonderful  things with Kenny Barron, Hank Jones and Bill Mays among numerous others. Here is a favorite with Ray as leader.

[Jim Duckworth]

I embarrassed the woman I was with at Jazz Fest in New Orleans where we were waiting to see David Murray with Archie Shepp.  I apparently got very vocally excited when Ray Drummond and John Hicks came out in advance of the horn players.

 

[mjzee]

This is another really good one.  Although Drummond is the leader, it sounds like a Hank Jones Trio record (also a good thing).

18 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

I also really like Drummond's debut LP, Susanita (Nilva, 1984).

Also, I think Drummond's sideman work for Ronnie Mathews was particularly strong:
- So Sorry Please... (Nilva, 1985)

 

I would love to see a Mosaic "The Complete Nilva Sessions" box.

[kh1958]

35 minutes ago, Jim Duckworth said:

I embarrassed the woman I was with at Jazz Fest in New Orleans where we were waiting to see David Murray with Archie Shepp.  I apparently got very vocally excited when Ray Drummond and John Hicks came out in advance of the horn players.

 

The David Murray Quartet with Archie Shepp and Idris Muhammad 1995-05-04 WWOZ Jazz Tent 5:45 PM

[HutchFan]

2 hours ago, mjzee said:

I would love to see a Mosaic "The Complete Nilva Sessions" box.

That would be interesting.  Some good stuff there.

[Hardbopjazz]

I saw Ray live back in October of this year with Barry Harris. Barry said while introducing him that “Ray hasn't  performed or played much in the past year due to illness. Now he’s feeling better, expect to hear a lot more of him.”  

[jlhoots]

JOANNE BRACKEEN & RAY DRUMMOND

I don't know whether pianist Joanne Brackeen snickers at all the latest punditry about "women in jazz," but she's certainly earned the right to--she's been crashing one boys' club after another since the late 60s. With a quirky musical intellect and oceanic command of the keyboard she's persuaded some of jazz's great chauvinists to overlook her gender, much as Mary Lou Williams did in the 30s and 40s: Brackeen is the only woman ever to play either in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers or in Stan Getz's quartet, and in the 70s she graced Joe Henderson's band, opening the door for several jazzwomen to follow. Brackeen's gigantic attack reveals her respect for McCoy Tyner, and her melodicism builds in part on Chick Corea's; it's proof of her ingenuity that she can recall these icons of modern jazz piano and still have one of the music's most recognizable instrumental voices. In her sprawling solos she seems unable to settle into a rut rhythmically: she incorporates stutter-step phrasing, sudden quick-time flights, minor hesitations in the right hand, and outright displacements in the left with ease and wit, turning even a potential lull like the bossa nova standard "Wave" into a tsunami. The same fierce playfulness fuels her often tricky originals, which tend to carry titles as idiosyncratic as their melodies: "Beethoven Meets the Millennium in Spain," for instance, is a gothic-salsa romp with an introduction lifted from the world's most famous fifth symphony. Both those tunes appear on last year's Pink Elephant Magic (Arkadia), which provided a wake-up call even for those of us who count ourselves Brackeen's loyal fans, knitting together the strands of her considerable talent. It features contributions from Nicholas Payton and Dave Liebman, and earned a 1999 Grammy nomination for one of saxist Chris Potter's solos--though Brackeen's spin on the title track probably deserved a second. In Chicago she'll dial down the volume, duetting with the lively bassist Ray Drummond, but I doubt that will dilute her power. 

This was when I saw them together.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2019 by jlhoots

[soulpope]

7 hours ago, mjzee said:

I would love to see a Mosaic "The Complete Nilva Sessions" box.

Good idea 👍....

[Gheorghe]

I also noticed in the late 70´s that he´s almost everywhere. 

I think I remember best his tenure with Johnny Griffin. That´s the unit I saw on several occasions: "Griffin, Ronnie Matthews, Ray Drummond, Kenny Washington". This was a very Steady unit .

And before that I´m sure I saw him on at least 2 occasions. 

But please help me: I saw Joe Henderson Quartet with Joanne Brackeen in late 1978, and very early in 1979 I saw George Coleman Quartet (with Hilton Ruiz, Billy Higgins), and I don´t know if Ray Drummond was on both occasions, or on one. So I don´t remember if I saw Ray Drummond with Henderson or with Coleman. 

The Thing I remember is he was so big, the bass fiddle looked so small in his hands...…..