Jazz Articles about Jeff Ray

About Jeff Ray

Album Review

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 ...

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Album Review

Jeff Ray: The Walkup

Read "The Walkup" reviewed by Eric J. Iannelli

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 ...

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Album Review

Jeff Ray: The Walkup

Read "The Walkup" reviewed by Franz A. Matzner

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 ...