Jazz pianist and composer Ray Bryant was born on December 24, 1931, in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is now acknowledged as one of the jazz greats who
helped take the genre into the mainstream. 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 actively involved in the Philadelphia jazz
scene, playing with John Coltrane and Ben Golson. Hired by bandleader Mickey
Collins, his major breakthrough came in...