John Ray Trio - The Birthday Gig (2018)

This was recorded at my regular Thursday gig, at a small jazz club in Winston-Salem called Southside. My regular drummer, Jonathan Greene, couldn't make the gig, so I called up Kassem Williams. I'd never played with him before but seen him play a few times and really dug playing with him. Also, Stephen Riley, my FAVORITE tenor sax player in the world, and, objectively, one of the best in the world, showed up and sat in on the last three tunes. Unfortunately it was my birthday and I'd been drinking already, so I feel like I played a little sloppy. But this recording turned out great and I'm overall very happy with the show.

1. Intro 01:53

2. McCoy - feat. Stephen Riley 13:12

3. Afro Blue 10:32

4. Little Sunflower - feat. Stephen Riley 17:24

5. Impressions 10:47

6. Afro Two -feat. Nishah Dimeo and Stephen Riley 17:29

7. Butterfly 11:42

Michael Kinchen, keys

Kassem Williams, drums

Stephen Riley, tenor sax

Nishah Dimeo, vocals

John Daniel Ray, bass

Recorded, mixed and mastered by John Daniel Ray

©2018 Mr. Haircut

www.johndanielray.com

www.mrhaircut.org

John Ray - Platinum Tipi (MR. HAIRCUT 2018)

Platinum Tipi started out as a funny name for a band; one of the 1500 or so on my band name list. Then, over dinner with my friend Suzanna, it turned into the idea for a fundraiser/party for my upcoming album. Then it morphed into a progressive musician’s summit, of sorts, with a big group of forward thinking players from the area coming together with the goal of creating something new. 

The setting is the house where I grew up, which is vacant and has been on the market a few years, but is an amazing piece of art in and of itself. And finally, Daniel Fox Johnston from Stillframe Storytelling got involved and had the idea to turn it into a video shoot. 

The vibe was incredible, right from the start. The large, high ceilinged living room was packed full of gear, analog and digital synthesizers crammed into every square foot and musicians crammed in between. Kevin Timmons laid down a lush synth chord and things spontaneously took off from there. 

About 20 minutes in, I noticed my computer had stopped recording. I checked, and my hard drives were completely full! I spent the rest of the evening deleting things from my computer to make enough room for another 15 minutes of audio here and there; but all told, only about a third of the session was recorded. 

I plan to do this again, in a more formal and intentional fashion. I feel like we just scratched the surface of what is possible with this group of players.

Bass, bass synth - John Daniel Ray

Guitar - Russell Kelly

Drums - Jonathan Greene, Jovan Taylor, Josh Wyatt

Tenor Sax - Joseph Dowdy

Keyboards - Kevin Timmons, Kevin Beck, Michael Anderson, Kelly Bridges

Vocals - Abigail Johnston

1. Intro - Platinum Tipi 06:25

2. Interstellar Frisbee 08:08

3. Space-Time Half-Pipe 06:31

4. Pan-Dimensional Drum Circles 07:53

5. Actresses Playing Actresses 07:10