Ray Ferretti

Born: July 31, 1958

Ray Ferretti started playing guitar in his early teens and was first drawn to music by the 70’s rock bands. Moving on to rhythm and blues and funk he started to gravitate toward jazz via Joe Pass. After hearing Wayne Shorter and Tribal Tech fusion bands he realized the style of music he wanted to play and compose. In the 90’s started to explore jazz fusion composition.

After 10 year hiatus Ray starting releaseing new music under 'Old Men Rock Records'.

Ray likes combing many styles into each composition which was sparked by a conversion with Pat Martino. I was with Pat at his parents place in South Philly and he went to take a phone call and I started looking at his album collection and I came across a Earth, Wind and Fire album which kind of shocked me and I ask me him about it and Pat said "take the best from whatever you like and make it your own" and that statment formed my style, a fusion of different elements.

Rudy Van Gelder

Born: November 2, 1924

Rudy Van Gelder started recording artists such as Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderley in the early 50s, in the comfort of his parent’s living room. It wasn't until 1959 that he opened his studio in Englewood Cliffs and along with Alfred Lion, changed the way Jazz was being recorded. In his six-decade career, it is estimated that he has recorded, mixed, and mastered over 2000 albums not only for Blue Note but Verve Records, Impulse!, CTI, and many others.

Blue Note Records founder Alfred Lion and Van Gelder first met when musician Gil Melle introduced them in 1953. Lion was impressed with the sonic clarity of Van Gelder's recordings, and he made sure that Van Gelder recorded most Blue Note sessions from 1953 to 1967. The signature “Blue Note Sound” is really a culmination of Lion's devotion to hard bop jazz, Van Gelder's meticulous pursuit of accurately capturing that improvisatory music, and the remarkable playing of the musicians on those early sessions at the Hackensack home studio. In his later career, Van Gelder operated from his state-of-the-art digital facility in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., where he worked with re-issue producer Michael Cuscuna on the RVG Series.

Joby

Born: December 25, 1970

https://linktr.ee/jobybaker

— A decade after his last full-length project — a decade spent winning Grammy and JUNO Awards as a producer — Joby Baker pours himself out in his return as a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist on “Wanderer,” the lead single (out now) from the upcoming album “Rain On Dry Ground” (due out on Feb 17th 2023.)

While listeners may not be used to seeing his name on the front of an album, lead single “Wanderer” and the rest of the project are saturated with an equal number of genius melodies and rhythms that Baker has lent to such artists as Alex Cuba, Deva Premal, Cowboy Junkies and India Arie throughout his distinguished 35-year career.