Ray Russell -

Ray Russell (born April 4, 1947) is an English jazz-rock guitarist who emerged as a quartet leader with two albums in 1968/69 on CBS. During the early 1970s, he appeared on albums by Bob Downs, Michael Gibbs, and Bill Fay amid a two-album stint with the Scottish brass-rock ensemble Rock Workshop.

Between 1972 and 1975, Russell recorded an album apiece with the art-rock combos Running Man, Mouse, and Chopyn. In 1977, he released the album Ready Or Not on DJM Records. During the subsequent two decades, his name appeared on numerous instrumental albums on Bruton Music and other library-specialty labels.

Background

Ray Russell was born Raymond Russell on April 4, 1947, in Islington, North London, England. His father played piano and accordion, while an uncle worked as stage manager at Collins Music Hall in Islington. Russell learned piano and accordion from his father, then took up ukulele and guitar at about 12 years of age. A guitar teacher introduced him to jazz standards and chord changes alongside the rock and roll, blues, and instrumental music he followed.

Russell formed George Bean and the Runners with school friend George Bean. The group played the Odeon on Holloway Road at a Saturday-morning film show. Russell also sang Paul Anka’s “I Love You Baby” on a Carroll Levis television talent show and took second place in the competition.

Russell left school at 16 and copied orchestral parts for classical concerts, then worked in an amplifier warehouse. He found a Melody Maker notice from John Barry Seven saxophonist Bob Downes seeking a replacement for guitarist Vic Flick. Russell memorized Barry repertoire and played “The James Bond Theme” at an audition in a North London cinema. The John Barry Seven hired him in 1963 as lead guitarist.

Under producer Joe Meek, Russell joined Shade Joey & the Night Owls, who cut the September 1964 Parlophone single “Blue Birds Over the Mountain” (b/w “That’s When I Need You Baby”). Russell continued with John Barry on the 1965 Bond film Thunderball and the 1967 film You Only Live Twice.

Russell led pianist Roy Fry, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Alan Rushton on a May 14, 1967 BBC Light Programme broadcast for The Jazz Scene in the Jazz Club. He met guitarists John McLaughlin and Jimmy Page at a Lansdowne Studios session. McLaughlin recommended Russell as his replacement in Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. Russell also played with the Graham Bond Organisation and joined Cat Stevens for a package tour with the Walker Brothers and the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

CBS A&R man David Howells contacted Russell in 1968 and offered him an album for the revived Realm jazz label.

1969: Dragon Hill

Augmented by a cast including saxman Lyn Dobson (Locomotive, Keef Hartley Band) and veteran trumpeter Harry Beckett, Russell unleashed his licks across five frenzied cuts on Dragon Hill.

Misty keys and chordal shards open the mammoth “Dragon Hill”, which ultimately veers between freeform guitar/piano solos and structural bebop/blues sketches; replete with the high-end, atonal strumming which becomes Russell’s signature.

He turns to more fluid licks on “Something in the Sky”, a jitterbug swept into the brassy winds of Beckett and Dobson.

Bassist Ron Mathewson funkifies “Can I Have My Paperback Back” for the interplay of Russell and pianist Roy Fry, who trades his Steinway for Rhodes on this number.

Alternately, Russell takes a powder for most of “We Lie Naked in Winter Snow”, a candlelight exchange between Mathewson and Fry.

The full-cast is summoned for “Mandala”, in which the lightning lines of Russell are squared by a brass theme of such aplomb it would smite Chicago or Colosseum.

1971: Rites and Rituals

That latter brass/rock congregate – whose core members had played with Russell under the tutelage of Graham Bond – paved ground which lured Russell on his next outing, Rites and Rituals.

The low-end strum which opens “Sarana” is swiftly raised by the layering of trombone, trumpet and sax; an assemblage soon knocked aside by Russell’s newly-manicured wall-of-distortion.

Furthermore, “Sarana” echoes the amplified strides of John McLaughlin – another Bond alumnus spanning the jazz/rock divide – with Russell torching thirteen minutes of freeform; lassoed fleetingly at brass/rock intervals.

Matching lengths but not ideas, the title-piece meanders amidst muffled bleats and coy noodling; the solid tune at 9:10 being all too brief.

Contrastingly front-loaded is the gargantuan “Abyss”, whose dissonance runs dry by the halfway mark.

Redemption is served in the final number, “Cradle Hill”, where the clashing currents of guitar, trombone and cello careen through a heady five-minute run.

Discography: