Ray Draper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Raymond Allen Draper (August 3, 1940–November 1, 1982) was an American hard bop tuba player.

Born in New York City. After attending the Manhattan School of Music in the mid-1950s, he played or recorded with Jackie McLean, Donald Byrd, John Coltrane, Max Roach, Don Cherry, Horace Tapscott, Archie Shepp, Teddy Wender, Brother Jack McDuff, Dr. John, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton and Howard Johnson. He also recorded as a leader in the late 1950s And upon being released from prison in the late sixties ,formed the first jazz rock fusion band composed of Established jazz musicians of the day.This preceded the normally accepted Miles Davis Bitches Brew as first jazz rock fusion group ,and recording by three years.Original band members include George Bohannon trombone,Hadley Caliman Tenor sax, John Duke upright bass Paul Lagos drums and Tom Trujillo guitar,This band after its first live performance at the Whiskey a go go in Holly wood,co billing with THE NAZZ was offered numerous top money record deals and was booked solid for the rest of the year at all the major rock clubs.But after his wifes attempted suicide after catching Ray with another girl,Ray began using heroin again, whereupon the more experienced band members all quit except for the youngest member guitarist Tom Trujillo and his landlord Chuck Goodn .This led for a search for new members some of which included .Don Sleet veteren NY trumpet player and one of Ernie Watts first gigs in LA many other musicians came and went but After two long years of searching Ray finally relented and Paul lagos was brought back on drums ,along with Richard Aplan on sax Phil Woods on Trumpet and Keyboardist Chuck Goodn Vocal Tom Trujillo guitar Ray Draper Tuba/ vocals Ron Johnson on bass.This comprised the new group eventually named by Trujillo because of the many food named bands at the time like Cream.Vanilla Fudge etc Named the band after soul food RED BEANS AND RICE,This group played with top rock bands of its time including, Jimmy Hendrix, Chicago Transit Authority, jethro Tull, , Gil Scott Heron etc And was on its way to being possibly the best band of its era due to the musicianship in the band and the originality, range and skill in its compositions, arrangements and live performances.Musically they blew everyone away. They went on to record the album produced by Jackie Paris titled " Red Beans and Rice featuring sparerib Ray Draper" on Epic Records. But when the band saw what Ray and his manager Forrest Hamilton had done putting only Rays picture on the cover , again the whole group quit and Ray was on his own once more. After this he sporadically performed and recorded but he was no longer able recreate the band and was ultimately killed during a robbery trying to tell a young robber who he was .Ray had unbelievable charm,and charisma that overcame his addiction ,his ability as a musician and composer and vision were unparralelled .Red Beans and Rice is a favorite among Djs and collectors for its eclectic mix of quality jazz and rock fusion un equalled at its time.