Ray Reach - Biography

Last updated August 30, 2005

As a practicing professional musician of some 40+ years, Raymond E. Reach (or just plain Ray, as he prefers to be called) lives an unusually diverse musical life. Ray has kept both feet firmly planted in two musical worlds - always having one foot in academia and the other in what he calls, the “real world” of professional music. From September 1998 until August 2005, Ray was Director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Jazz Ensemble. He is currently Director of Student Jazz Programs at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (www.jazzhall.com). In addition, Ray produces jazz and classical recordings and directs the Magic City Jazz Orchestra, a recording and concert Big Band composed of some of the best jazz players Alabama has to offer.

In the late 1960s, Reach served as studio musician (guitar, piano and organ) at recording studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and Birmingham, Alabama, while playing in various pop and rock groups. His aspirations of becoming a rock star were soon discouraged by his contact with the crazy, drug-and-alcohol-driven life styles of many of the pop stars with whom he was working. “I made a conscious decision that this was not the way I wanted to live,” said Ray. “Academia seemed like a much better choice.” So he resolved to finish his academic degree work in music and teach.

Reach has taught music on the secondary and college levels in both the choral and instrumental fields. The colleges which he has attended for music degree work and further musical study include Birmingham-Southern College, the University of Montevallo, the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, Eastman School of Music, The University of North Texas and others. In addition, he has taught Jazz Improvisation, Jazz History, arranging and Computer Music courses at a number of colleges and universities, including all of the abovenamed institutions as well as Richland Community College (Dallas, Texas), Cedar Valley College (Dallas, Texas) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (1998 - 2005).

Reach began piano study at age six, studying with Giula Williams at E.E. Forbes and Sons Piano Company in Birmingham. At age 11, he began piano studies at the Birmingham Conservatory of Music, first under Carolyn Pfau, then with Hugh Thomas. At age 15, he began voice study with Andrew Gainey, veteran of the New York City Opera and the Rodgers and Hammerstein Touring Company, with whom he continued to study voice until Mr. Gainey's death.

Also beginning at age 15, Ray's interest in The Beatles, Chet Atkins, Andres Segovia, and other guitar icons, prompted him to take up guitar. On this instrument, he is largely self taught, relying on transcriptions of guitar solos which he did himself. “I also loved the great Bluegrass players,” Reach says. “I never missed the Martha White Hour, which featured Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.”

Another landmark event in Reach's early years (age 15) was his participation in the Men's Chorus of the Birmingham Civic Opera's production of The Barber of Seville. This experience helped to foster Reach's enduring love for opera and musical theatre. His love for drammatico-musical productions was fulfilled in later years when he was asked to be musical director for several productions at the Dallas Theatre Center, and more recently for Samford University, where he was musical director for productions of “Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Into The Woods” (by Stephen Sondheim), and the southeastern premier of Stephen Schwartz's “Children of Eden.”

Ray's love for choral music began at Dixie Junior High School in Birmingham (with Choral Director Tom Pinion) and later at Minor High School (under John Fowler). “Tom Pinion often played jazz piano for our classes. It was cool. And John Fowler was also a jazz lover. I heard my first recording of Miles Davis in John's classroom,” Reach quips, flashing a boyish grin.

Form 1977 to 1980, Ray served as Graduate Assistant in the Jazz Program at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, under reknowned jazz educator Steve Sample. In 1979, Ray was awarded the ASCAP Raymond Hubble Musical Scolarship, which is awarded each year to only ten university jazz students nationwide.

In 1983, while serving on the house music staff at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, Texas, Ray was fortunate to befriend the late Fred Crane, a world-class pianist who played for many years with Al Hirt. Early in 1984 Crane, a Dallas native bumped into Reach in New Orleans, where he and Reach were both playing weekend gigs. Upon Fred's invitation, Ray was formally introduced to famed jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis. Reach's connection with Ellis had actually begun some years earlier, when he had played a club engagement in New Orleans (as guitarist) with a jazz organ trio. “I went out to one of the local hotels and heard 14 year-old Wynton Marsalis playing trumpet with his dad. Wow, I was blown away. Wynton, at 14, was already blowing standards better than most 40 year old trumpeters.”

As a member of the house music staff at the Dallas Fairmont, Ray had the honor of sharing the stage with many greats of the Jazz world, including Joe Williams, Buddy Rich, Mel Torme and George Shearing, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, guitarist Joe Pass, pianist Paul Smith and many others. Sadly, all of the Fairmont's show rooms have since been closed.

While living and working in Dallas, Texas, Ray gained an expert working knowledge of Computer Music applications and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). He was co-founder of the American MIDI Users Group (a pre-Internet computer music Bulletin Board System), and worked in development with Systems Design Associates, makers of the ProMIDI (tm) line of MIDI music software.

During his time as Director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Jazz Ensemble (1998 - 2005), Reach composed and arranged much of the music performed by the group. His catalog of jazz, classical and popular music arrangements numbers in the hundreds. He has written arrangements for many name musical acts, including Chaka Kahn and the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, jazz saxophonist Lou Marini and jazz trumpeter Lew Soloff.

In 1985, Reach toured Europe with The Dallas Symphony Chorus, under the direction of Ron Shirey. While in Europe, they played to standing room only audiences in Vienna, Leipzig, Paris, and other cities, performing traditional vocal and choral favorites by Mozart, Haydn and Bach, beloved compositions of great American composers such as Gershwin, Copland and Ives, as well as jazz arrangements (all written by Reach) of tunes by Gershwin, Ellington, Cole Porter, Thad Jones and others. Reach's accompaniment work behind Dallas singer Marilyn Walton was described by the Vienna press as being “...magnificent shining jewels of distinctly American jazz artistry, played with formidable technique and immense understanding of the idiom.”

Ray has directed big bands and jazz combos and taught Music Technology courses at numerous schools, including Birmingham-Southern College, the University of Montevallo, the University of Alabama, Richland Community College (in Dallas, Texas) and Cedar Valley College (also in Dallas).

Ray Reach has been aggressively pursuing a career as a music producer for more than 20 years, helping to create recordings in many musical genre: Classical Instrumental, Classical Choral, Jazz Instrumental and Vocal, Country, Gospel, Rock, Pop and Contemporary Christian.

SOME RECENT RECORDINGS PRODUCED BY RAY REACH

“Christmastide” - a collection of Christmas and Advent choral arrangements and compositions by internationally-known composer/arranger K. Lee Scott.

“UAB SuperJazz, featuring pianist Ellis Marsalis” - Co-produced with UAB Music Professor Henry Panion. This CD is a live recording of a performance of Ellis (father of Wynton) with the SuperJazz Big Band at the Alys Stephens Center on the UAB campus.

“Lou's Blues - Lou Marini and the Magic City Jazz Orchestra” (See review on this website.) - a recording of original Jazz Orchestra (Big Band) arrangements and compositions by Lou Marini, Jr., top New York jazz woodwind player and recording studio musician. Marini, an alumnus of the famed One O'Clock Jazz Lab Band at The University of North Texas, has recorded and toured with countless name musical groups, including The Buddy Rich Big Band, The Woody Herman Orchestra, Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Steely Dan, The James Taylor Band, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and the list goes on and on. In addition, Lou was a charter member of the Saturday Night Live Band and appeared in both of the Blues Brothers movies. He continues today to tour frequently with the Blues Brothers.

“Lew Soloff - Live at Worplay” (www.workplay.com) - a recording of Big Band music, recorded in January, 2002, featuring world-famous jazz trumpeter Lew Soloff, a graduate of Eastman School of Music. A brilliant high-note trumpeter long in great demand for big bands and session work, Lew Soloff is also a distinctive soloist and an expert with the plunger mute. After studying at Juilliard and Eastman, he freelanced in New York with Maynard Ferguson, Joe Henderson and Clark Terry among others and then was a part of Blood, Sweat & Tears during 1968-73. Soloff was closely associated with Gil Evans from 1973 on, and also played with George Gruntz's Concert Jazz Band, the Manhattan Jazz Quintet and Carla Bley; he was also teamed with the colorful trombonist Ray Anderson on several often-humorous recordings.

Reach's personal musical philosophy espouses a firm belief that music is one the most powerful forces in our universe, a “vehicle of empowerment (he calls it) which is manifest in the act of musical mentorship.” He also believes that “there are only two types of music: good music and bad music. In the words of one of my heroes, the great Duke Ellington, “If it sounds good, it is good.”

His Personal Mission Statement says “It is my goal to use the gift of music wisely, to uplift the human spirit and to impart to students the real world knowledge to compete in today's highly-competitive, international music market.”

In a recent interview on a local Birmingham, Alabama television show, Reach stated: “Many of our U.S. college and university music programs are not teaching the students what they need to know to compete in today's musical market. Certainly, a thorough knowledge of European Classical music is an absolute MUST for competent professional musicians, but today's player needs more to help assure his employability.”

Ray's newest challange is developing the educational offerings at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. He is in charge of assembling a faculty of jazz professionals and writing a Jazz curriculum to be used in the tuition-free “Saturday Jazz Classes.” For more information about the “Saturday Jazz Classes,” go to www.jazzhall.com.

Ray Reach may be contacted at:

Phone: 205-960-6328 / Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame Office: 205-254-2731 / Email: rreach@bellsouth.net

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

New CD Featuring UAB's Ray Reach Reviewed onAllaboutjazz.com

(Reprinted from the University of Alabama at Birmingham website)

Posted on October 1, 2004 at 10:20 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL. A new CD produced by Ray Reach, instructor of music at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and “Blue Lou” Marini of “The Blues Brothers” fame, was reviewed recently by www.AllAboutJazz.com.

The CD, “Lou's Blues,” was released in February (2004)and features the Magic City Jazz Orchestra with Ray Reach on piano. The review touts the recording as “an exercise in ultra-modern composing, arranging and blowing” and calls it “a remarkably inventive session.” It will “bring a smile to the face of many big-band enthusiasts.”

Additionally, the Web site www.mp3.com gave the recording five stars, Reach said. “They gave us five stars overall, as well as five stars for each individual cut on the CD,” Reach said.

Most of the musicians in the Magic City Jazz Orchestra also play with SuperJazz (formerly UAB SuperJazz). SuperJazz was the first performing musical ensemble connected with UAB, Reach said. UAB jazz and music technology students assisted Reach with the production of the album. The CD can be purchased at many area outlets, including Laser's Edge, Tower Records, Virgin Records, Amazon.com, CD Baby and Barnes and Noble, Reach said.am, AL

Born
August 3, 1948

Ray Reach may be contacted at:

Phone: 205-960-6328 / Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame Office: 205-254-2731 / Email: rreach@bellsouth.net