Sun Ray: A Tribute to Ray Bryant

by Lenny Marcus Trio and Friends

	/

00:00

Digital Album

Immediate download of 14-track album in your choice of high-quality MP3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.

Buy Now $9 USD or more
Buy Disc
Share / Embed

1.	Blues for Norine 04:25	download
2.	Cubano Chant 03:38	download
3.	Sun Ray 05:22	download
4.	Gotta Travel On 04:24	download
5.	Minor Trouble 03:37	download
6.	Threesome 03:32	download
7.	Until It's Time for You to Go 03:38	download
8.	Downside Up 03:28	download
9.	After Hours 03:21	download
10.	Hot Turkey 03:28	download
11.	Stick With It 04:30	download
12.	The Early Years 02:29	download
13.	Sneaking Around 04:16	download
14.	Little Susie 05:09	download

about

“Sun Ray” is a tribute to one of my first piano teachers, my mentor, my friend, legendary jazz pianist Ray Bryant, who passed away in June, 2011. Actually, Ray was much more than that, he was part of my family, my Dad’s best friend. He used to laugh and call me his “nephew” as I ran around the house as a little kid, showing me how to play chords on the piano with both hands, and how to develop a strong powerful left hand to compliment the right. He showed me some of his unique jazz and blues changes, the way to thicken jazz chords to get that “Ray Bryant sound.” My Dad would say, “You know why Ray is great? It’s because whenever you hear him play, you know it’s HIM.”

I am delighted to dedicate this album to Ray Bryant, from his first song “Minor Trouble,” to “Gotta Travel On,” the famous “Cubano Chant,” and many others, mixed with some originals. “Sun Ray” was written for him and “Downside Up” is sort of a reverse melody of his famous “Threesome.” “Little Susie” is for both him and my Mom, whose name happens to be Suzie (she loved to joke that this song was written especially for her).

There will never be another pianist quite like Ray Bryant. “Sun Ray” is for him, and for all of us who will never forget his wonderful music. It’s blues. It’s jazz. It swings!

credits

released 03 April 2012
Personnel:
Lenny Marcus- piano
Rick Eckberg- bass
Larry Scott- drums

Cyrus Pace- guitar
Tom Artwick- sax, flute
Scott Walter- trumpet, flugelhorn
Vladimir Espinosa- congas, percussion
Peter Ingram- drums on Sun Ray, Threesome
John Brown- bass on Sun Ray, Threesome

Art Direction & Design: Billy Chase, www.inkeyestudios.net
Cover Photo: Nell Enriquez
Recorded at Blackwater Studio, Wirtz, VA., 540.721.1413, www.bwrecording.com and songs 3 and 6 recorded at Sound Lab, Greensboro, NC and Mixed at Flat 5 in Salem, VA

All songs ©2012 L. Marcus, BMI unless otherwise noted. Songs 3,8 and 12 by Lenny Marcus. Songs 1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 11, 13 and 14 by Ray Bryant. Song 7 by Sainte-Marie. Song 4 by Paul Clayton, Larry Ehrlich, David Lazar and Tom Six. Song 9 by Robert Bruce, Buddy Feyne, Avery Parrish.

license

feeds

feeds for this album, this artist

about

Lenny Marcus hails from Wash, DC, but he worked for many years in New Orleans, studying and performing with legends such as Ray Bryant, Ellis Marsalis, Alvin Batiste, and recording with David “Fathead” Newman, Charlie Byrd, Frank Foster, Sonny Fortune, Brian Lynch, Jane Powell and others. His band is a well schooled jazz group. “Their jazz is infectious!,” says Jazz Times magazine. ... more