24 Facts About Ray Bryant

Raphael Homer "Ray" Bryant was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

Ray Bryant's mother was an ordained minister who had taught herself to play the piano; his father played the piano and sang.

Ray Bryant's brothers were the bass player Tommy, drummer and singer Len, and Lynwood.

Ray Bryant began playing the piano around the age of six or seven, following the example of his mother and his sister, Vera.

Ray Bryant had switched from classical music to jazz by his early teens and played the double bass at junior high school.

Ray Bryant was then a solo pianist based in Syracuse, New York for a year.

Ray Bryant attracted more attention after becoming house pianist at the Blue Note club in Philadelphia in 1953.

Ray Bryant was there until 1956, accompanying many leading players such as Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Sonny Stitt.

Ray Bryant was a member of trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's small and big bands for four months in 1957.

Ray Bryant was part of drummer Jo Jones's trio in 1958.

For three months in 1959, Ray Bryant was the pianist in singer Ella Fitzgerald's small band.

Ray Bryant recorded with "Hal Singer, Arnett Cobb, Benny Golson, Lem Winchester, and Oliver Nelson" in 1959.

Ray Bryant formed his own trio and was signed by producer and talent scout John Hammond to Columbia Records in 1960.

Signature Records responded immediately by releasing their own version of Ray Bryant playing the same tune.

In 1963, Ray Bryant switched to Sue Records and recorded the first of four albums for the label.

Ray Bryant had another top 100 hit with a cover version of Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" in 1967.

The crossover success that Ray Bryant had irritated some jazz purists, but the pianist maintained that he was unconcerned and had been playing such material in clubs for years before the recordings became commercially successful.

Tommy and Ray Bryant formed a trio, with Oz Perkins as the back-up band, for the off-Broadway run of the comedy show Cambridge Circus, at Square East in 1964.

Between 1976 and 1980, Ray Bryant recorded five albums for Pablo Records.

Ray Bryant played with Benny Golson in New York in 1997.

Ray Bryant died on June 2,2011, at the age of 79 in Queens, New York, after a long illness.

Ray Bryant's style was initially influenced by pianists Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson, but blues and gospel elements soon grew stronger in his playing.

Ray Bryant was not known as an innovator, but had a readily recognisable style of his own.

Ray Bryant said that he liked to transfer elements of the Count Basie Orchestra to the piano.