Ray Bryant
A pianist and composer, Afro-American Ray Bryant was one of the jazz greats who
helped take the genre into the mainstream. Raised on gospel music, his mother
played piano in the local church in Pennsylvania, his brothers Tommy and Len
played bass and drums respectively and his sister Vera became a pianist/organist
specialising in gospel music. Studying classical piano from the age of six, he
played gospel music in church, as well as double bass and tuba in his school
band.
Drawn to concentrate on jazz in his teens, he was 14 when he joined Jimmy
Johnson's band and became act...
