Lyrics | Artists | Ray Bryant

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...