Michael Ray (born December 24, 1952) is an American jazz trumpeter. He tours extensively with Kool & the Gang, Sun Ra and the successor Sun Ra Arkestra under Marshall Allen's direction following Sun Ra's passing. For a period from the mid-1990s to the present he leads his own band, Michael Ray and the Cosmic Krewe. His playing with Sun Ra and independently has incorporated funkjazz, R & B, electronica and fusion genres.
He is originally from Trenton, New Jersey and was born December 24, 1952. [1] His professional start was performing with R & B acts such as Patti LaBelle, The Delfonics and The Stylistics. Michael Ray is married to Laranah Phipps Ray, Jazz vocalist of Phipps Family, Newark's 1st Family of Jazz
Ray joined Sun Ra's band in 1978. He appears on Sun Ra albums on Saturn Records and on CDs released by Evidence, Enja, HatHut, Rounder Records, Black Saint/Soul Note, Horo Records, A&M Records, Philly Jazz and ESP-Disk labels. Ray also mixed Mayan Temples , Sun Ra's last studio session (Black Saint/Italy-1992).
In 1989 he moved to New Orleans and established several music projects, particularly the Cosmic Krewe. He has released records in the 1990s and 2000s under his leadership.
Michael Ray continues to perform with the Sun Ra Arkestra and has appeared with rock-phenom Phish, live and on two Elektra recordings ( A Live One and Trey Anastasio's Surrender to the Air ). He recently worked on a PBS soundtrack for producer Delfeayo Marsalis and appears on recordings of Galactic drummer Stanton Moore and avant rockers Iris May Tango. He has made special appearances with many popular groups including Aquarium Rescue Unit, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Widespread Panic, U2, Porno for Pyros, Col. Bruce Hampton, Jazz is PHSH, and Deep Banana Blackout. [2] [3]
Michael Ray is currently collaborating with jazz vocalist Laranah Phipps. Several projects are in the works.
Le Sony'r Ra, better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances. For much of his career, Ra led "The Arkestra", an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up.
Space Is the Place is an 85-minute Afrofuturist science fiction film made in 1972 and released in 1974. It was directed by John Coney, written by Sun Ra and Joshua Smith, and features Sun Ra and his Arkestra. A soundtrack was released on Evidence Records.
Archie Shepp is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz.
Marshall Belford Allen is an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He also performs on flute, oboe, piccolo, and EWI.
John Gilmore was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and percussionist. He was known for his tenure with the avant-garde keyboardist/bandleader Sun Ra from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Tani Tabbal is a jazz drummer who has worked with Roscoe Mitchell, David Murray, and Cassandra Wilson.
Ahmed Abdullah is an American jazz trumpeter who was a prominent member of Sun Ra's band.
The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two is a 1965 recording by the jazz musician Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra. Where Volume One of the Heliocentric Worlds series had predominantly featured short abstract pieces, Volume Two features longer pieces performed by a smaller group, making it closer in spirit to the contemporaneous The Magic City, released on Ra's own Saturn label. The record has been widely bootlegged, some versions of which were retitled The Sun Myth.
The Sun Ra discography is one of the largest discographies in music history. Jazz keyboardist, bandleader and composer Sun Ra recorded dozens of singles and over one hundred full-length albums, comprising well over 1,000 songs, and making him one of the most prolific recording artists of the 20th century.
Featuring Pharoah Sanders and Black Harold is a jazz album by Sun Ra, recorded live on December 31, 1964, but not released until 1976, on Ra and Alton Abraham's El Saturn label. An expanded version of the album was reissued in 2009 by ESP-Disk, and again in 2017 by Superior Viaduct. A complete version of Sun Ra's performances on December 30 and 31, 1964 were released in 2012 on the Pharoah Sanders album In The Beginning 1963-1964.
This is a timeline documenting events of jazz in the year 1961.
Space is the Place is an album by Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra. The music was recorded in early 1972 in San Francisco, California for the film Space Is the Place. However, the music remained unreleased until Evidence Music issued a compact disc in 1993.
We Travel the Space Ways is an album by the American jazz musician Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra. Recorded mostly in 1960, the album was released in 1967, on Sun Ra's own label Saturn. The album brings together a number of eras and personnel of the Arkestra, and was probably mostly recorded by Ra himself during rehearsals.
Secrets of the Sun is an album by the American Jazz musician Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra. The album is considered one of the more accessible recordings from his 'Solar' period. Originally released on Ra's own Saturn label in 1965, the record was unavailable for many years before being reissued on compact disc by Atavistic in 2008.
'Marking a transition in its development between the advanced swing of the early Chicago-era recordings and the increased free-form experimentation of its New York tenure, this album also reveals the first recorded versions of two Ra standards, "Friendly Galaxy" and "Love in Outer Space." Accessible, yet segueing into vanguard territory, this album highlights a fertile period in the Arkestra's history. Looser and more aggressive than its Chicago recordings, these pieces find the Arkestra pushing at the limits of harmony and tonality.' Troy Collins
The Nublu Club is a club in East Village, Manhattan, New York, that was opened in 2002 by Swedish-Turkish saxophonist Ilhan Ersahin. On its 10th anniversary the club's namesake festival presented what it calls the Nublu Sound, a combination of jazz, African, South American, Caribbean, electronic, and dance music. Among the bands associated with Nublu are The Brazilian Girls, Forro in the Dark, Love Trio, and Wax Poetic. Associates who perform there include Butch Morris, John Zorn, Sun Ra Arkestra, David Byrne, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Norah Jones, and Bebel Gilberto.
Tyler Mitchell is a jazz bassist and has recorded and toured with some of jazz's most respected artists, including: Art Taylor, Jon Hendricks, Shirley Horn, George Coleman and the Sun Ra Arkestra. He is unique in that he is active in both the traditional and avant-garde jazz idioms and is currently in demand as both a leader and a sideman in New York City. He studied the bass with Donald Raphael Garrett and Malachi Favors. He has recorded on Grammy nominated recordings and has recorded at The Village Vanguard.
Cosmo Omnibus Imagiable Illusion is a live album by jazz composer, bandleader and keyboardist Sun Ra and his Arkestra recorded in Tokyo in 1988 and released on the Japanese DIW label.
Danny Ray Thompson was an American jazz musician. He played baritone saxophone with the Sun Ra Arkestra and managed the band for a period of time.
In the Beginning 1963–1964 is a 4-CD compilation album by American free jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders recorded in 1963-1964 and released in 2012 on the ESP-Disk label. It features previously unreleased recordings of Sanders performing with groups led by Don Cherry and Paul Bley, complete concert recordings of Sanders' appearances with Sun Ra, a re-release of Sanders' first album, and various interviews.
The Sun Ra Arkestra is an American jazz group formed in the mid-1950s and led by keyboardist/composer Sun Ra until his death in 1993. The group is considered a pioneer of afrofuturism. As of 2022, the Arkestra is led by saxophonist Marshall Allen, an Arkestra member since 1958, who is supported by more than a dozen other musicians.
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