Ray Copeland (musician)
Ray Copeland (July 17, 1926 – May 18, 1984)[1] was an American jazz trumpet player and teacher.
Personal life[]
Copeland was born in Norfolk, Virginia, United States,[1] and died of a heart attack in 1984 in Sunderland, Massachusetts.[2] He studied at Boys High School, Bedford-Stuyvesant.[3]
His son Keith Copeland is a noted jazz drummer.
Career[]
Copeland's active career spanned from the 1940s to the 1980s.[2] Throughout his career he participated on many swing and hard bop dates, appearing on the well known Monk's Music by Thelonious Monk in 1956. Copeland played with a swinging, upbeat approach, but was undoubtedly overshadowed by other top trumpeters of the era such as Lee Morgan and Clifford Brown. He toured with Thelonious Monk in 1968, and appeared at the 1973 Newport Jazz Festival. Later, Copeland was a Music Professor at Hampshire College, teaching jazz composition.[1]
In 1974, he published the book The Ray Copeland Method and Approach to the Creative Art of Jazz Improvisation.[2] Copeland never recorded as a session leader.
Discography[]
With Thelonious Monk
- Blue Monk, Vol. 2 (Prestige, 1954)
- Monk (Prestige, 1954)
- We See (Dreyfus, 1954)
- Monk's Music (Riverside, 1957)
- Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (Riverside, 1957)
- Complete Live at the Five Spot 1958 with John Coltrane (1958)
With Specs Powell
- Movin' In (Roulette, 1957)
With Randy Weston
- The Modern Art of Jazz by Randy Weston (Dawn, 1956)
- Little Niles (United Artists, 1958)
- Highlife (Colpix, 1963)
- Randy (Bakton, 1964) – rereleased in 1972 as African Cookbook (Atlantic)
- Monterey '66 (Verve, 1966)
- Tanjah (Polydor, 1973)
With Jimmy Witherspoon
- Goin' to Kansas City Blues (RCA Victor, 1958) with Jay McShann
With others
- Top Brass, Ernie Wilkins (Savoy, 1955)
- Jazz Spectacular, Frankie Laine (1956)
- Look!, Lionel Hampton (1956)
- Art Blakey Big Band (Bethlehem, 1957)
- The Oscar Pettiford Orchestra in Hi-Fi Volume Two (ABC-Paramount, 1957)
- Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller, Dinah Washington (1957)
- Sugan, Phil Woods (Status, 1957)
- Cat on a Hot Tin Horn, Cat Anderson (1958)
- Out There, Betty Carter (1958)
- Rites of Diablo, Johnny Richards (1958)
- A Map of Jimmy Cleveland, Jimmy Cleveland (Mercury, 1959)
- Portrait of the Artist, Bob Brookmeyer (Arista, 1960)
- I Can't Help It, Betty Carter (1961)
- Listen to Art Farmer and the Orchestra, Art Farmer (Mercury, 1962)
- Manhattan Latin, Dave Pike (Decca, 1964)
- Booker 'n' Brass, Booker Ervin (Pacific Jazz, 1967)
- Big B-A-D Band in Concert, Live 1970, Clark Terry (1970)
- Attica Blues Big Band, Archie Shepp (1979)[4]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. pp. 559/560. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Ray Copeland biography, AllMusic.
- ^ Randy Weston, Willard Jenkins, African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston, Duke University Press Books, 2010, p. 71.
- ^ "Ray Copeland | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- 1926 births
- 1984 deaths
- Swing trumpeters
- Hard bop trumpeters
- American jazz trumpeters
- American male trumpeters
- Musicians from Hartford, Connecticut
- Hampshire College faculty
- 20th-century American musicians
- 20th-century trumpeters
- Jazz musicians from Connecticut
- 20th-century American male musicians
- American male jazz musicians
- American jazz trumpeter stubs