RAY CRAWFORD

Candid Recording(s):

Biography:

Ray Crawford was born and raised in Pittsburgh. His first musical ambitions centered on making a name for himself as a saxophonist and in 1941 he took a saxophone chair with the Fletcher Henderson band – doubling on the rarely heard alto clarinet.

During his spell with Fletcher, Ray contracted tubercolosis and was forced to leave the band subsequently spending two years in a sanitorium. This ended his career as a saxophonist and resulted in him learning to play guitar. When he came out of hospital he was able to play enough to secure work.

Still in Pittsburg, Ray joined the Ahmad Jamal trio in May 1951, an engagement which was to last some six years. The late fifties found him gigging around New York, and for some time fronting his owhn band at Minton’s Playhouse.

Through his playing around the Big Apple hje came to the attention of Gil Evans…after being with the Gil Evans Orchestra for a couple of years, participating in two albums, one from early 1959 and the other from late 1960, things became somewhat disenchanting for Ray and he eventually moved to the West Coast.

Immediately after “Out Of The Cool” album came out, Ray was invited to make an album on the Candid label. Ray worked furiously on the arrangements and assembled the musicians he knew could read and could play right away and after just one rehearsal the date was made in February 1961.

'Smooth Groove' is the first and now only available album in the Ray’s own name - released over 25 years after the recording date.

Candid recording(s): CCD 79028 - Smooth Groove