Ray Bradburry

Avid Jazz continues with its Four Classic album series with a re-mastered 2CD release by Ray Bryant, complete with original artwork and liner notes. “Ray Bryant Trio 1956”; “Alone With The Blues”; “Little Susie” and “Hollywood Jazz Beat”.
Born on Christmas Eve in Philadelphia, 1961, Ray Bryant began picking out tunes on the piano at the tender age of six. His mother, an accomplished pianist gave him his first lessons before he moved on to other teachers and finally joined the local musicians union at fourteen! He quickly became the house pianist at the Blue Note club in Philadelphia where he says he made more money than his piano teachers! Finally he headed out on tour with his trio supporting vocalist Carmen McCrea and in 1958 joined the Jo Jones Trio…

Ray Brown was in at the beginning of the Concord Jazz record label in the early '70s, and starting with Brown's Bag in 1975, he recorded a dozen albums as a leader for Concord before departing for Telarc Records in the early '90s. This two-disc compilation, with a running time of almost two hours and 20 minutes, presents 24 selections drawn from 19 Concord Jazz albums recorded between 1973 and 1993, including live performances at the Concord Jazz Festivals, recordings by Brown's trio and the L.A. 4, and a Brown duet with Jimmy Rowles, among other configurations. As a bass player, Brown only rarely solos, so one usually notices the horn players (Harry "Sweets" Edison, Red Holloway, Plas Johnson, Richie Kamuca, Blue Mitchell, Ralph Moore, and Bud Shank), the pianists (Monty Alexander, George Duke, Gene Harris, Art Hillery, and Rowles), or other frontline musicians…

Brown took a fresh approach for this 1982 date, retaining the trio format but substituting flute for drums and using Monty Alexander instead of regular pianist Gene Harris. The results were intriguing; Most provided colors and sounds that haven't been on a Brown date since, while Alexander added some Caribbean flavor and a bit more adventurous sound.

A rare snowy day in Nashville, Tennessee set the stage for an even rarer event an intimate concert by rock icon Robert Plant at the War Memorial Auditorium. Performing with his new, Grammy-nominated group aptly titled the Band of Joy (which includes fellow luminaries Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin), Plant played both Led Zeppelin classics and new songs that continue to have an impact on the music scene today…