Jimmy Raney

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James Elbert Raney , known as Jimmy Raney (* 20th August 1927 in Louisville , Kentucky ; † 10. May 1995 ibid) was an American guitarist of modern jazz .

Live and act

Jimmy Raney is considered the leading guitarist between cool jazz and bebop and was apostrophized as a kind of Lee Konitz of the guitar ( Martin Kunzler ).

His father was a sports reporter, his mother played the guitar; she got him to learn classical guitar at the age of ten. Raney had his first encounter with jazz at the age of 13 when he learned to play jazz guitar with a local jazz great, guitarist Hayden Causey. This introduced him to the work of Charlie Christian , especially through his recording Solo Flight in 1939. From then on, Raney's jazz career began; four years later (1944) he played in Jerry Wald's New York band . He then worked with various jazz orchestras in Chicago, where he met Lee Konitz . His first career leap came in 1947 when he joined Woody Herman's band , Second Herd , alongside Stan Getz . With him Raney played the Roost Recordings important for cool jazz in the early 1950s , although he saw himself more as a bebop musician, in a row with Tal Farlow and Billy Bauer from the school of Lennie Tristano . The music of Charlie Parker was also a model for Raney . Teddy Charles commented: "Jimmy was one of the first to understand the lyrical character in Parker's music and to translate it into his own long phrasing." (Kunzler)

In 1953 he became Tal Farlow's successor in the Red Norvo trio and traveled to Europe with him in 1954. From then on, his field of work shifted from jazz clubs to Broadway or studio work: from 1953 to 1960 he played in Don Elliott's quartet in the Broadway performance of Thurber Carnival . He stayed in New York until 1964 , then retired to his birthplace in Kentucky, where he played the cello and worked as a teacher. He only returned to the jazz scene in 1975 and recorded a number of important LPs for Criss Cross and Steeplechase Records , sometimes accompanied by his son Doug Raney (* 1957), who also became a jazz guitarist. Throughout his career, Jimmy Raney also played with Artie Shaw , Buddy DeFranco , Bob Brookmeyer , Ralph Burns , Teddy Charles , Al Cohn , Al Haig , Edmond Hall , Dick Katz and Herbie Stewart.

Raney's style of playing had an impact on guitarists like Barney Kessel , Jim Hall or Attila Zoller , who recorded three duo records with him.

Discography

As a leader

As a sideman

collection

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Raney, Jimmy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Raney, James Elbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Louisville , Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1995
Place of death Louisville , Kentucky