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Tim Ray Trio: Fire & Rain

By Edward Blanco
July 22, 2023
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Veteran educator and jazz pianist Tim Ray pays homage to some of his musical heroes with a piano trio album simply entitled Fire & Rain. It features various well-known standards from those who have been a major influence in his career, along with three original tunes added to the mix. Joining the pianist on this new adventure are familiar band mates, bassist

John Lockwood

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">John Lockwood and drummer

Mark Walker

drums
b.1961

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Walker, originally together for a

Greg Abate

saxophone
b.1947

" data-original-title="" title="">Greg Abate concert and then for the Abate album Motif (Whaling City Sound, 2014). Since then, the group has performed as sidemen as well as a leading band of their own, gaining a reputation as one of the finest trio groups in the business.

Ray writes that the trio format is "one of the great ensemble innovations of the last century," further concluding that "What makes an ensemble of piano, bass and drums so satisfying is the harmonic space...the rhythmic and coloristic focus...and a sonic balance" infused into the music. Who's to argue? All of those elements seem to work out quite well here, resulting in an impressive and dynamic session of music one will revisit often.

One of Ray's musical influences was the legendary

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk who he pays tribute to on the opening hard-swinging Monk piece "Bye-Ya," followed by the band's beautiful treatment of

Oliver Nelson

saxophone
1932 - 1975

" data-original-title="" title="">Oliver Nelson's oft-recorded standard "Stolen Moments."

Antonio Carlos Jobim

piano
1927 - 1994

" data-original-title="" title="">Antonio Carlos Jobim, another of Ray's heroes, is covered here with a performance of one of his lesser-known compositions "Mojave," which is one of the outstanding tracks of the set.

Other tribute pieces here include the

Carla Bley

piano
1938 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Carla Bley song "Lawns" (actually a Bley tribute to the late pianist

Larry Willis

piano
1942 - 2019

" data-original-title="" title="">Larry Willis),

Keith Jarrett

piano
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Keith Jarrett's "The Windup" and Oscar Peterson's "Nighttime." The

James Taylor

guitar and vocals
b.1948

" data-original-title="" title="">James Taylor title song "Fire & Rain" enjoys two performances here, with a lengthy nine-minutes plus track, and the final track, a radio edit version of less than five minutes duration.

Each player contributes an original tune to the album, with Ray's "No Worries," Walker's "Moon in the Sea," and Lockwood's "The Meeting: The Jbug and the Kman" rounding out the set. Fire & Rain is an exceptional recording by this trio, and goes a long way to not only affirming Ray's feelings about the trio format but also adding to their well-deserved reputation as one of the most formidable jazz trios around.

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Track Listing

Bye-Ya; Stolen Moments; NO Worries; The Meeting: The Jbug and the Kman; Mojave; Theodore the Thumper; Fire and Rain; Lawns; Moon in the Sea; Improv #1 (for Chick); Nighttime; The Windup; Fire and Rain (radio edit).

Personnel

Tim Ray

piano

John Lockwood

bass

Mark Walker

drums

Album information

Title: Fire & Rain | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Whaling City Sound

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