Ray Perry

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Raymond "Ray" Perry (born February 25, 1915 in Boston , † autumn 1950 in New York City ) was an American jazz violinist and alto saxophonist of the swing era .

Live and act

Perry was the brother of drummer Bay Perry and saxophonist Joe Perry. Ray Perry first learned to play classical violin before turning to saxophone for 20 years. On the violin he developed the playing feature of simultaneous singing and stringing, which Slam Stewart then transferred to the bass.

Perry worked with Dean Earl's band from 1935, and Chic Carter from 1937 to 1939. From January to September 1940 he was part of Blanche Calloway's band , then from September 1940 to October 1943 in Lionel Hampton's groups. Influenced by Stuff Smith , he is considered to be one of the first jazz violinists to use electrical amplifiers , from 1940 when he played in the sextet of Lionel Hampton, with which recordings for Victor Records were made ("Lost Love"); In 1941 he performed with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra in the Panther Room of the Sherman Hotel in Chicago. At the end of 1943 he had to take a break because of an illness.

In 1944 he worked on the east coast with Sabby Lewis and George "Big Nick" Nicholas (" Sweet Georgia Brown "). In May 1944 Perry adopted the standards “ What Is This Thing Called Love? "," Just You, Just Me "," Out of Nowhere "," How High the Moon "," Summertime "and" I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You "( The Complete 1944 CW French & 1945 Rosenkrantz Apartment Transcriptions ); Contributing musicians were Argonne Thornton and Wilson Ernest Myers (bass). In 1946 he was involved as a violinist and saxophonist in JC Heard's orchestra on recordings of Ethel Waters , heard as a soloist in "You Took My Man". From the summer of 1946 he led his own band, with which he first appeared in the Spotlight in Ontario. After working with Sabby Lewis in 1948, he reactivated his own band in late 1948. In the last months of his life he worked in the Octet of Illinois Jacquet (where it came back to recordings with Joe Newman and Trummy Young ). In the field of jazz he was involved in 16 recording sessions between 1940 and 1950.

Discographic notes

  • Ray Perry / Ethel Waters / JC Heard Orchestra ("You Took My Man"): In: I Like Be I Like Bop: Odds & Svends of Early Bebop Violin & Contemporary Violin Curiosities (AB Fable, ed. 2006)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed April 1, 2019)
  2. ↑ Discographic information in Wold Cat
personal data
SURNAME Perry, Ray
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Perry, Raymond (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician (violin, alto saxophone)
DATE OF BIRTH February 25, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston
DATE OF DEATH between September 1950 and December 1950
Place of death New York City