John Ray Trio

I used to play freelance club dates in the New York City area on guitar back in the 80s. One of the bass players who stands out in my mind as being a great musician and really not well known was John Ray. He grew up in Douglaston, New York a few blocks from me. He had a quintette with Ralph Lalama, Jerry Sokolov, Fred Lite and Keith Saunders that was at Pat's in Chelsea every Thursday. This is all I could find of John searching the web. Sorry the video's so dark.


John Ray Trio - YouTube

 

I also found this duet. He's the bass on the right.

Blues For Ray - Arni Egilsson- Al Cardillo, John Ray-Bass - YouTube

 

That's right Brotha Pukespray! Please send my warmest regards. Does Fred Lite ever come out and play or is he rapped up in court? I understand he became quite an attorney among other things. (Drummer, Mathematician, Piano Tuner and FRED used to do windows according to Eddy Arnold). He actually taught a standard deviation class(card counting) at Hunter College. Only in New York. In L.A. you're only one thing or another. (For marketing purposes that is.)

 

Do that. Seems like he is the subject of some of the better stories of the NYC scene in the 80s. I have one too and it's a dewsy.

 

I think I can tell this one. It illustrates Fred and John's tendency toward true comedic genius. But I will do it in 2 parts.

I met Fred because one night in the mid 80s, on a club date in the Bronx, (that place under the Throgs Neck bridge), I mentioned to John on a break that I lost my ass playing black jack in Tahoe while doing the Eddy Arnold Show.

Somehow, I mentioned to John that I was supposed to be in Vegas the following week. I told John that the conductor had called me earlier that day asking for a good drummer who could read fly ****. John immediately said, "I've got a drummer for you..........Fred Lite!" He also added, "and he'll teach you how to play 21........the right way, trust me. Call Fred." Now, picture this. Trumpeter Richie Vitale black tux- shaved head- soul patch- tinted sunglasses and his little brother are standing there listening to us. Richie is just nodding in agreement to everthing John has just said. I'm thinking what the **** is going on here for a just a split second. My recollection of Richie is you never know what Richie's thinking. The 2 Vitale's are just nodding and mumbling. "yeah man, call Fred, yeah he needs the bread."

So I hooked Fred up. Anyway, we get to Vegas and Fred's my new roomate. We are in the hotel room at Ceasar's and he has the drum book and Fred's looking at it like it's Chinese. Every ****ing thing is written out. It's a 30 piece orchestra with strings. He is starting to turn a pasty grey color. The conductor, calls me and says rehearsal's in the morning at 10 am.

We get to rehearsal and Fred is terrified. Eddy comes over while he's setting up and says, "Hi young man, I'm Eddy Arnold and I hear your quite a drummer! You're Chuck's buddy from New York. I've heard great things about you." Now Fred's really turning red. Bright red. He's keeps looking over at me. With this, "what the **** did John get me into look."

So now he has set up and the stage engineer wants a level in the cans. He asks Fred to play some to get a level in the monitors. Fred starts doing his Elvin thing, full out. He just blasts off. Man, it was good. One of the string players almost has a heart attack. He's grooving on the ride, goes through all the toms, the snare, the high hat. Holy ****! It was great. Anyway, the engineer has a smirk on his face and says to Fred, "what do want in the cans? Rhythm section and vocals or just YOU." .................{to be continued}

 

O.K., O.K. Part 2 - Here's what happened:

Back up to the night before rehearsal in the hotel room at Ceasar's.

Fred pulls out a book. I think the title is "Counting 8 Decks Plus Minus" authored by Fred Lite and says it's a present. He proceeds to give me 6 rolls of pennies and we play blackjack for hours in the room until I was broke and exhausted. He then explains the principles of standard deviation, card counting and parlaying I would have to master before I could even stand a chance against the house. Needless to say, I never gambled again after this encounter.

Now back to The Rehearsal:

First of all Fred's thing was not sight reading. He's a groove player. Whoever wrote the charts was a Broadway type arranger. The book was unnecessarily complicated. Once Fred got it down, he was fine. But it definitely scared the **** out of him.

The first thing we go over is the medley for Eddy's entrance. I can't remember the sequence but I think it started with, "Make the World Go Away" and then eventually it gets to "Anytime". Well, for some reason Fred had this penchant for double time. The conductor gives the down beat and the strings do ANY= TIME and Fred doubles it. He's on it, ALL THE WAY THROUGH! Jim Lance Williamson, Eddy's other guitarist from Nashville is on the floor in laughter. The rehearsal was a nightmare. Fred was pissed. He went up to his room with the book and shedded for hours with Jim and I coaching him.

By the time we hit the 1st of 28 shows he sounded like he had been playing Country his whole life. Eddy loved him. They would hang out in Eddy's dressing room and Eddy would tell him funny stories. Fred would laugh. It was great. Good times. Eddy introduced Fred this way. "I want to introduce a fine drummer and good friend. He's a fine young man......he writes books, tunes pianos...ha, ha.... and ladies he does windows too. Ladies and gentleman, Mr. Fred Lite!

 

Long Island University
C.W. Post Campus Department of Music



OUR FACULTY
John Ray
Professor of Jazz Bass Studies

John Ray, Jazz Bass performer and instructor, has performed with such esteemed Jazz musicians and composers as Roy Haynes, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Michael Brecker, Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick, Jr. Mose Allison, Barry Harris, and Jaki Byard. Along with maintaining a private studio, he is also an Adjunct Professor of Jazz Bass in the Department of Music at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.

LIU Post Department of Music
720 Northern Boulevard
Brookville, NY 11548
(516) 299-2474 (Voice)
(516) 299-2884 (Fax)
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. James W. McRoy, Chair

 

John Ray