Ray Reach

Born: August 3, 1948

RAY REACH - Pianist / Vocalist / Guitarist / Arranger / Composer / Producer / Educator

CHECK OUT RAY'S NEW WEBSITE AT:

http://www.rayreach.com

A NEW RECORDING IN THE WORKS BY RAY REACH !

Ray Reach recently announced (July 2021) that he is nearing completion of a new recording titled "Rhythm and Salvation" The recording features legendary drummer Steve Gadd, saxophonist Lou Marini, Jr, trumpeter and director of the Count Basie Orchestra Scotty Barnhart, noted film composer and pianist Misha Segal and a host of other fine musicians.

As a practicing professional musician of some 49+ years, Raymond E. Reach (or just plain Ray, as he prefers to be called) lives an unusually diverse musical life. Ray has kept both feet firmly planted in two musical worlds - always having one foot in academia and the other in what he calls the "real world" of professional music. He is one of the premier in-demand jazz pianist / vocalists in the Southeast, having carved himself a niche, doing straight ahead jazz piano coupled with "Sinatra- style" vocals. As an educator, he is equally adept. From September 1998 until August 2005, Ray was Instructor of Music at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where he taught music technology and directed the UAB Jazz Ensemble. After leaving UAB hhe was, 15 years, Director of Student Jazz Programs at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (www.jazzhall.com), where he created and directed of the "Fun With Jazz" educational program, which originated through the auspices of the Alys Stephens Center for the Performing Arts, and is now offered by the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. In addition, Ray produces jazz and classical recordings and directs the Magic City Jazz Orchestra, a recording and concert Big Band composed of some of the best jazz players Alabama has to offer. Ray has performed with and arranged for numerous notable musicians, including Clark Terry, Leonard Candelaria, Ken Watters, Lou Marini, Ernie Watts, Dizzy Gillespie, Ellis Marsalis, Cleveland Eaton, Chuck Redd, Mundell Lowe, Bill Goodwin, Lew Soloff and Chaka Khan with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. He has been a regular featured musician at the annual W. C. Handy Festival in Florence, Alabama (www.wchandyfest.com) since 2003, and has also served as a faculty member of the W.C. Handy Jazz Camp.

2018: The Year in Jazz

by Ken Franckling
January 3, 2019

The year 2018 was a busy one for the jazz world. The genre's version of the #MeToo movement resulted in a new Code of Conduct and other efforts to make the music workplace more equitable. International Jazz Day brought its biggest stage to St. Petersburg, Russia. The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which ran a high-profile ...

Phil Kelly and the NW Prevailing Winds; Eric Essix and the Night Flight Big Band; University of North Texas Two O'Clock Lab Band

by Jack Bowers
February 2, 2010

Phil Kelly & the Northwest Prevailing Winds Ballet of the Bouncing Beagles Origin Records 2009 The Ballet of the Bouncing Beagles, Marius Nordal writes in the liner notes to composer / arranger Phil Kelly's latest recording, “was inspired by an actual photograph of Phil's two beagles jumping up in the ...

Glenn Cashman / UAB SuperJazz / Elliot Deutsch Big Band / Russ Spiegel Jazz Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
January 6, 2010

Glenn Cashman And the Southland Big Band! Primrose Lane Music 2009 Even though Glenn Cashman's superlative Southland Big Band makes its home (technically) south of the Mason-Dixon Line, it is more than a few miles removed from cotton fields, mint juleps and the Mississippi River--to be more precise, in the ...

Jazz Musician of the Day: Ray Reach

August 3, 2009

All About Jazz is celebrating Ray Reach's birthday today! JAZZ MUSICIAN OF THE DAY Ray ReachRAY REACH - Pianist / Vocalist / Guitarist / Arranger / Composer / Producer / Educator As a practicing professional musician of some 45+ years, Raymond E. Reach (or just plain Ray... more

Lou's Blues

By Ray Reach

Label: Chase Music Group
Released: 2003