Jazz Articles about Ray Drummond

About Ray Drummond

Album Review

Kenny Barron / Ray Drummond / Ben Riley: So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon

Read "So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 30, 2026

Search high and low, look under houses and over rooftops, scan YouTube and social media--and there is no chance you will find a more adept and perceptive jazz trio than the one you will hear and appreciate on So Many Lovely Things. Pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Ben Riley recorded the two-disc album in August 1995 at the Brecon Jazz Festival in Wales, and it is by any measure a textbook lesson in how to do everything ...

Album Review

Kenny Barron: So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon

Read "So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon" reviewed by Jack Kenny

by Jack Kenny
June 21, 2026

Kenny Barron had the responsibility of playing piano on People Time (Universal Records, 1991) with Stan Getz--a poignant 7 CD box set recorded just three months before the saxophonist's death. Throughout those sessions, Barron displayed an extraordinary sensitivity. Now, as then, his piano phrasing is marked by incredible restraint and weightless grace. That same brilliance shines through on So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon, an archival jazz release from Elemental Music that captures a masterclass by one ...

Album Review

Kenny Barron: So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon

Read "So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
June 14, 2026

Kenny Barron has always had the rare ability to make sophistication feel conversational. Even at his most technically dazzling, there is an intimacy in the way he shapes a phrase. That quality permeates So Many Lovely Things: Live At Brecon, a previously unissued 1995 concert recording from Wales featuring Barron with bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Ben Riley. Released by Elemental Music on June 12, 2026 as a limited 2-LP set, a 2-CD edition, and a digital release, the 105-minute ...

Album Review

Kenny Barron: So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon

Read "So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
June 12, 2026

Some guys have all the luck, and Zev Feldman is a lucky guy. Imagine criss-crossing the world on a rogue yet holy mission to bring the music all back home, and listening to, for the first time, works of art as snazzy or as regal as “Up Jumped Spring," the second of six tracks on CD1 of the 2-CD / 2-LP set, So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon. Jazz has known its shamans: those few who roam ...

Album Review

Kenny Barron: So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon

Read "So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon" reviewed by Andrew Schinder

by Andrew Schinder
June 8, 2026

By the mid-1990's, piano icon and NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron had completed his transition from being a dependable, workhorse pianist-for-hire that elevated any group that had the good sense to engage him, to one of the most revered musicians in the business, and a living bridge between hard bop tradition and 21st century jazz modernity. It was at this point when Barron, along with his cohorts during this period--dearly-departed accompanists Ray Drummond (bass) and Ben Riley (drums), who had all being ...

Album Review

Kenny Barron: So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon

Read "So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
June 1, 2026

Pianist Kenny Barron (b. 1943) has paid his dues, working in the bands of Yusef Lateef and Dizzy Gillespie as well as a three-year stint in trumpeter Freddie Hubbard's band. His work as a leader has also soared. His first album under his own name was titled You Had Better Listen (Atlantic, 1967). That title offered good advice.As with most top-tier jazz artists who boast 50-plus-year careers, he has played thousands of concerts, and many of these have ...

Radio & Podcasts

Kurt Elling, Laura Ann Singh, Johannes Wallmann and Ray Drummond

by Joe Dimino
November 30, 2025

We open the 934th episode of Neon Jazz with a heartfelt tribute to a giant we lost on November 1, 2025--the incomparable Ray Drummond, bassist, educator, and pillar of the jazz world. From his 2006 gem 1-2-3-4, we spin “Little Waltz" to honor his legacy and say goodbye to a true master. From there, the show widens into a kaleidoscope of sound featuring Gino Amato, Zack Lober, Kurt Elling, Johannes Wallmann, Pat Mariano, and Bill Coon. We spotlight standout cuts ...