Carline Ray

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Carline Ray (born April 21, 1925 in New York City ; † July 18, 2013 ibid) was an American singer and jazz musician (double bass, electric bass, guitar, piano, vocals).

Live and act

Ray, who came from a musical family, received a musical foundation from her parents. She studied piano and composition at the Juilliard School of Music . She also played jazz guitar and in 1946 got an engagement with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm , with whom she toured for a good year. In 1948 and 1949 she worked as a singer in the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra . She then studied singing at the Manhattan School of Music up to an MA . As a contralto she sang with the Schola Cantorium , the Camarata Singers , the Bach Aria Group and the American Opera Society .

In the mid-1950s she also established herself as a bassist. In 1956 she married the pianist and composer Luis Russell ; her daughter Catherine Russell (* 1956) is also a professional musician. Ray worked with Gunther Schuller , Igor Stravinsky , Leonard Bernstein , but also as a studio musician for Patti Page , The McGuire Sisters , Della Reese , Sylvia Syms , Jimmy Smith and Quincy Jones . In Mary Lou's Mass of Mary Lou Williams , she was a singer, but also as a bass player. With the band of Melba Liston she went on an Asian tour. Between 1971 and 1984 she worked as a bassist with the dance theater of Alvin Ailey , where she was also involved in the performance of works by Duke Ellington ; she sang as a soloist in the Revelations choreographed by Ailey . She also played with the bands of Seldon Powell , Tiny Grimes , Ruth Brown and Doc Cheatham . With Bertha Hope and Paula Hampton she founded the band Jazzberry Jam in 1995 ! Kit McClure brought her on as a singer for her Sweethearts-of-Rhythm project. A first album under her own name Vocal Sides , which she introduced as a singer and was produced by her daughter, was released by Ray in 2013.

Ray received the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival Award in 2005 and the International Women in Jazz Award in 2008 . She is recognized in the documentary The Girls in the Band .

Selected discographic references

  • Vocal Sides (1961-2013)

as a sidewoman

  • International Sweethearts of Rhythm (1946–1947)
  • Ruth Brown Live in London (1995)
  • Jazzberry Jam! Live (1997)
  • Linda Presgrave In Your Eyes (2000)

literature

Ursula Schlicht : It's Gotta Be Music First. On the meaning, reception and work situation of female jazz musicians . Karben 2000

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary on CNN
personal data
SURNAME Ray, Carline
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician (double bass, electric bass, guitar, piano, vocals)
DATE OF BIRTH April 21, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH 18th July 2013
Place of death New York City