Ray Kamalay is an American jazz guitarist and singer from Detroit, Michigan who has recorded several jazz records with his group, the Red Hot Peppers. Kamalay is noted for his work with many folk music groups and notable jazz artists such as the Chenille Sisters, Johnny Frigo, and Howard Armstrong. [1] Kamalay is also well known for his work in music education, giving lectures and demonstrations on folk music topics. [2] [3]
After completing a degree in philosophy from the University of Detroit, [4] Kamalay began his career as a professional musician in 1974, concentrating on historic American music such as folk and jazz. In 1983, he formed his regular band, the Red Hot Peppers. The Red Hot Peppers has included several notable jazz musicians over the years, including the Chenille Sisters, Johnny Frigo, and Howard Armstrong, and trumpet player Walter White, who formerly played with the Harry Connick, Jr. orchestra. [5] His collaboration with Armstrong earned Kamalay a W.C. Handy Award nomination in 1998. [4]
In 2008, Kamalay began a music education program named "Freedom, Slavery and the Roots of American Music" in which he uses the guitar to demonstrate sounds from a variety of musical movements. He connects those movements with major periods and events in American history, such as the time of slavery. He has performed the program in celebration of Black History Month throughout Michigan. [2]
The Jazz Age was a period in the 1920s and 1930s in which jazz music and dance styles rapidly gained nationwide popularity in the United States. The Jazz Age's cultural repercussions were primarily felt in the United States, the birthplace of jazz. Originating in New Orleans as mainly sourced from the culture of the diaspora, jazz played a significant part in wider cultural changes in this period, and its influence on popular culture continued long afterwards. The Jazz Age is often referred to in conjunction with the Roaring Twenties, and in the United States, it overlapped in significant cross-cultural ways with the Prohibition Era. The movement was largely affected by the introduction of radios nationwide. During this time, the Jazz Age was intertwined with the developing youth culture. The movement also helped start the beginning of the European Jazz movement.
The music of Michigan is composed of many different genres. The city of Detroit has been one of the most musically influential and innovative cities for the past 50 years, whether in Michigan or anywhere else in the United States. Impressively, for 48 straight years (1959-2007) a greater Michigan-area artist has produced a chart-topping recording. Michigan is perhaps best known for three developments: early punk rock, Motown, and techno.
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