Ray Anderson

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Ray Anderson at the INNtöne Jazzfestival 2019

Ray Robert Anderson (born October 16, 1952 in Chicago , Illinois ) is an American jazz trombonist . He has an unmistakably snotty playing style and is known for his funny compositions. For five years in a row he was voted the best trombone player of the present by the critics of Down Beat magazine .

Live and act

Anderson was born in Chicago on October 16, 1952. His parents were theologians and his first contact with jazz was his father's Dixieland record collection. He was particularly impressed by trombonists Vic Dickenson and Trummy Young as a child. In fourth grade he began playing valve trombone with his classmate George Lewis . As a teenager, he was heavily influenced by the music of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) as well as James Brown , Sly Stone, and Jimi Hendrix .

In the early 1970s he lived for a short time in San Francisco , where he played with members of the progressive jazz scene. Above all, the drummers Charles Moffett and Stanley Crouch had a strong influence on him. Anderson moved to New York in late 1972. He was not noticed by a larger audience until the late 1970s, when he played in the bands of Anthony Braxton (1978-1981) and Barry Altschul (1978-1980) and was involved in recordings. With Braxton ( Moers Festival 1978), Altschul, later also with Bennie Wallace's trio and his own formations, he has attended European festivals every year since then.

In 1981 Anderson co-founded (and singer) the collaborative band Slickaphonics with Steve Elson , Allan Jaffe , Mark Helias and Jim Payne , which became known for their witty avant-garde funk . With this band he recorded five self-produced albums for Enja and Teldec and toured the USA and Europe several times. At Slickaphonics he not only played the trombone, but was also the lead singer. Also in the 1980s, together with bassist Mark Helias and drummer Gerry Hemingway, he founded a trio that was named BassDrumBone after their second record in 1985 . The trio mainly played compositions by Anderson.

Since the mid-1990s, Ray Anderson has repeatedly founded successful band projects such as The Alligatory Band , The Lapis Lazuli Band , Slideride (trombone quartet together with Craig Harris , George Lewis and Gary Valente ) and The Pocket Brass Band . In 2000 he also became a member of Jim Pugh's band Super Trombone (with Dave Bargeron and Dave Taylor ).

In addition to many of his own recordings, Anderson can also be heard as a soloist in other bands. The best known are the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band , Charlie Hadens Liberation Music Orchestra , the New York Composers Orchestra and the Vienna Art Orchestra . He was also with Dr. John , Luther Allison , Christy Doran , Henry Threadgill , Roscoe Mitchell , Barbara Dennerlein , Klaus König , John Scofield and Paul van Kemenade out and about . In addition to the trombone, Anderson also played the sousaphone , e.g. B. on his album Bonemeal and in the group of the singer Erika Stucky .

Play style

Ray Anderson maintains an expressively cheeky style of playing despite playing with several voices (multiphonics). He deliberately set a counterpoint to the polished playing style of other trombonists such as Jay Jay Johnson , Albert Mangelsdorff or, extremely, Bill Watrous . Ray Anderson is also known for his funny compositions and solos. He explores all the possibilities of the trombone by not only making use of the entire jazz tradition of his instrument, but also making use of noises. In his piece Rap for Nap , which he wrote for the Gruntz Concert Band , he manages to B. Playing your trombone in such a way that it sounds like scratching a record.

Discography

Recordings under your own name

  • Harrisburg Half Life (Moers, 1980)
  • Old Bottles, New Wine ( Enja , 1985)
  • It Just So Happens (Enja, 1987)
  • Blues Bred in the Bone (Enja, 1988)
  • What Because ( Gramavision , 1989)
  • Wishbone (Gramavision, 1991)
  • Every One of Us (Gramavision, 1992)
  • Big Band Record performed by George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band (Gramavision, 1994)
  • Bonemeal (Raybone Music, 2000)
  • Sweet Chicago Suite (Intuition, 2012)

Recordings with own & collaborative bands

  • Slickaphonics: Modern Life (Enja, 1982)
  • Slickaphonics: Wow Bag (Enja, 1983)
  • Slickaphonics: Humatonic Energy (Blue Heron Records, 1985)
  • Slickaphonics: Check Your Head at the Door ( Teldec 1986)
  • Slickaphonics: Live (Teldec 1987)
  • BassDrumBone: Right Down Your Alley (Soul Note, 1984)
  • BassDrumBone: You Be (1985)
  • BassDrumBone: Wooferlo (Soul Note, 1987)
  • BassDrumBone: Hence the Reason (Enja, 1996)
  • BassDrumBone: March of Dimes (1997)
  • Ray Anderson Alligatory Band: Don't Mow Your Lawn (Enja, 1994)
  • Ray Anderson Alligatory Band: Heads and Tales (Enja, 1995)
  • Ray Anderson, Han Bennink, Christy Doran: Azurety (Hat Art, 1994)
  • Ray Anderson, Han Bennink, Christy Doran: Cheer Up (Hat Art, 1995)
  • Ray Anderson, Craig Harris, George Lewis, Gary Valente: Slideride ( Hat Hut , 1994)
  • Ray Anderson Lapis Lazuli Band: Funkorific (Enja, 1998)
  • Ray Anderson Pocket Brass Band: Where Home Is (Enja, 1998)
  • Mark Dresser & Ray Anderson: Nine Songs Together (CIMP, 2003)
  • Ray Anderson & Marty Ehrlich: Hear You Say - Live at Willisau (Intuiton, 2009)
  • Omri Ziegele , The Noisy Minority, Ray Anderson, Jan Schlegel, Dieter Ulrich : Wrong Is Right (Intakt 2016)
  • Ray Anderson - Han Bennink - Ernst Glerum - Paul van Kemenade: Checking Out (Kemo 2016)

Recordings as a sideman

Web links

Commons : Ray Anderson  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Lexical entries

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ When his wife became seriously ill, Anderson severely restricted his musical activities.
  2. ↑ Meeting (NDR) ( Memento from October 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Anderson, Ray
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Anderson, Ray Robert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz trombonist
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois, USA