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Tim Ray Trio: Fire & Rain

By Jack Bowers
August 7, 2023
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Boston-based pianist

Tim Ray

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Tim Ray and his rhythm mates, bassist

John Lockwood

bass

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

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Walker, have been performing together since 2013, and Fire & Rain is their second recording as a trio. Their years working arm-in-arm and side-by-side have spawned a symbiotic relationship, and it shows.

Even when the trio tests the free-jazz waters—as it does only once, on a seat-of-the-pants salute to

Chick Corea

piano
1941 - 2021

" data-original-title="" title="">Chick Corea, "Improv #1 (for Chick)"—everyone is on the same page and no one gets lost in its maze-like chasms. Elsewhere, this is contemporary trio jazz that mirrors a pattern set by

Bud Powell

piano
1924 - 1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Bud Powell,

Erroll Garner

piano
1921 - 1977

" data-original-title="" title="">Erroll Garner,

Marian McPartland

piano
1918 - 2013

" data-original-title="" title="">Marian McPartland,

Billy Taylor

piano
1921 - 2010

" data-original-title="" title="">Billy Taylor,

Hampton Hawes

piano
1928 - 1977

" data-original-title="" title="">Hampton Hawes,

Oscar Peterson

piano
1925 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Oscar Peterson and others, and has moved onward through the more recent successes of celebrated threesomes led by

Bill Evans

piano
1929 - 1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Evans,

Keith Jarrett

piano
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Keith Jarrett and the like.

Ray's trio bows to Jarrrett with the powerful "Windup," Peterson with his dreamy "Nighttime."

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk is represented by the opening "Bye-Ya," pianist

Dave McKenna

piano
1930 - 2008

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave McKenna by his hard-hitting tribute to the Boston Red Sox' Hall of Fame slugger, Ted Williams ("Theodore the Thumper"). Ray composed the assertive "NO Worries" for the city of New Orleans, Lockwood the hymnlike "JBug and the KMan" (marking the first time his elder son met his newborn brother), Walker the charming waltz, "Moon in the Sea."

Other writers embraced on the engaging menu are

Oliver Nelson

saxophone
1932 - 1975

" data-original-title="" title="">Oliver Nelson ("Stolen Moments"),

Antonio Carlos Jobim

piano
1927 - 1994

" data-original-title="" title="">Antonio Carlos Jobim ("Mojave"),

Carla Bley

piano
1938 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Carla Bley ("Lawns") and James Taylor (two versions of his iconic "Fire and Rain"). Ray and the trio are superb on every one, blending their talents in service to the music, as the more notable trios before them have. Based on the outcome of Fire & Rain, it is a safe bet that the list of admirable contemporary jazz trios has grown one name longer.

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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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