Spanky De Brest

Ray Draper: The Ray Draper Quintet Featuring John Coltrane

by Douglas Payne
July 1, 1998

What makes this fairly typical bop outing unique is that the leader plays tuba. Ray Draper (1940-82) was only 17 when he recorded this quintet date in 1957, his third of three for Prestige, and, as much as possible, he makes the clunky instrument swing. As Ira Gitler's interesting notes point out, the tuba was a pretty common rhythm instrument in the early days of jazz. Then the string bass came along and took its place. Draper, who was featured ...