Ray Santisi, Spellbinder\'s arranger/composer/pianist, is an internationally known jazz pianist who has played as featured soloist with Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Mel Torme, Irene Kral, Natalie Cole, and countless other well-known jazz greats. He performed with Buddy DeFranco, Joe Williams, Gabor Szabo, Milt Jackson, Zoot Sims & Al Cohn, Carole Sloane, Clark Terry and Bobby Brookmyer.
Special thanks to Whit Brown, bass; and Fred Buda, percussion for such wonderful support and cooperation in helping to create this album.
SPELLBINDER\'s listener may find a correlation between the seven-four time signature in the title piece and the hypnotic effect created by a snake charmer. Sit back, listen, and become spellbound.
B U Z Z ! ! ! !
\"What a joy it is to hear Mr. Santisi let loose on an acoustic piano . . . \" Stu Vandermark, Cadence Magazine
\"a man sitting on top of the world, professionally speaking.\" Ernie Santusuosso, Boston Globe jazz critic
\" the most exciting piano player I\'ve heard since those first sessions with Bill Evans and Marian McPartland and Oscar Peterson.\" The Raleigh, N.C. News and Observer
\"Boston\'s most in-demand jazz pianist.\" The Boston Phoenix
Ray has been a featured jazz pianist on Capitol, Prestige, Sonnet, Roulette, and United Artists Records. He has also recorded on Bethlehem, Transition, and Rasan record labels.
Ray\'s global appeal is evident in teaching with Stan Kenton\'s summer jazz clinics on college campuses throughout the country, performing in Europe, Scandinavia, and Asia.
An Alumnus of Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory of Music, Ray is a recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in composition and performance, and of a National Endowment for the Arts Composition Award. He is also the author of Jazz Originals for Piano. He was a founder of the early Jazz Workshops in Boston.
MORE BUZZ ! ! !
“Quiz Question: When is a sub not a sub? Answer: When the sub is Yoron Israel. At least, that’s one of the first thoughts that hit me when I sat down to catch a couple sets of the Ray Santisi Collective playing to a full house 8/4 at the Terrace Lounge of the Marriott in Copley Place (617/236-5800). And he kept contributing all night. Everyone was so comfortable that when Ray pursued “Poinciana” and the drummer took up a variation on Vernell Fournier’s famous work on the tune on the 1958 Ahmad Jamal disk, Ray “ignored” the persistent pattern and barreled right through. It was not a clash or a test of wills. It was a comfortable demonstration of working possibilities. Of course the two of them could not pull this sort of thing off alone. Ray also had hand-in-glove Greg Loughman on bass and the young Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana sticking to the tenor for the evening. And the audience was not merely large. It was listening. Several times there was applause for Greg’s solos. When the crowd gives some to the bass player, you know they’re awake. And in this case, lucky.” Stu Vandermark, Cadence, Oct,Nov,Dec 2008 edition
I caught another fine Ray Santisi gig 3/25 at the Terrace Lounge of the Marriott Hotel at Copley Place (617/236-5800) with regulars Marshall Wood and Gary Johnson taking care of business. One of the pleasant surprises of the evening was the addition of Mike Monaghan on tenor sax. Best known to some fans for his fine contributions to the 1980\'s version of Herb Pomeroy\'s wonderful big band, Mike has played in everything from Bop-oriented combos to the Boston Pops. Every now and then Mr. Fiedler and his replacements have needed real Jazz musicians to carry the day, and Mike has been one of those called upon regularly. So regularly that Ray told me he has his fingers crossed that Mike will be free of Sunday evening obligations with the Pops for a while. He wants Mike to be a regular with the Terrace Lounge combo. And why not? The group sounds terrific. On a break I discovered that like many Jazz musicians, Mike comes from a long line of working musicians. In fact, he has the trumpet his great, great grandfather used in the Civil War as a member of a Union Army ensemble from Maine. That\'s pretty durable lineage.\" Stu Vandermark, CADENCE Magazine, May 2007
\"I went to Ryles 2/5 to check out the jazz brunch featuring the music of Patricia Adams, Ray Santisi and friends. It was one of the coldest days of the year; I figured I\'d have an easy time getting a good seat. Much to my surprise people were lined up outside the club waiting to get in. I\'m a coward. I abandoned the idea of getting a table and carried out an end run by having my meal at the bar. I was able to hear most of what was happening within the quartet above the din. It\'s easy to say that people show up Sunday mornings to get some food and chat; there is a lot of talking that goes on. But the audience seems to get bigger each time I show up. There has been no change to the menu. Some local convention may account for an occasional increase now and then,. But it would not account for the gradual increase in audience size over time. I doubt that the conversations are improving. Maybe it\'s the music. Maybe the audience is hearing it better and wants to hear more. I suppose that it\'s possible really good music could draw a crowd. Maybe that\'s what\'s going on . . .\"
If you\'d like to do a two-day piano marathon at the beginning of the month, you could start out Sunday (4/1) morning with Ray Santisi at the Ryles jazz brunch (including the bonus of Patricia Adams vocals), move over to the Boston Harbor Hotel\'s Intrigue Cafe at 2:30 to catch Masako Yotsugi (just to discover that young people can challenge the ear), then to the Terrace Lounge of the Marriott Hotel at 7 to catch Ray Santisi (can\'t get enough of him) . . . \" CADENCE Magazine, April 2007
\"I wonder if the folks who run the Copley Marriott Hotel in Boston know what a treasure they have on their property every Sunday evening? . . . reveling in a weekly event that a growing number of sonic art lovers are discovering--the 6-10 pm Ray Santisi session every week in the Terrace Lounge. Mostly, it\'s a trio date put together from a small but variable personnel list (including such reliables as Marshall Wood and Gene Roma). Occasionally, its a foursome; Jerry Seeco offered vocal and flugelhorn work when I was there on 5/7 (with Patricia Adams sitting in for a couple tunes). But whatever the configuration, good stuff happens because Ray plays the piano and he refuses to pick bland sidemen. What people such as Hank Jones and Ray Santisi do is rare these days when mere technical flourishes seem to be the central activity of pianist headliners at the major venues. The Terrace Lounge offers fans an opportunity to witness the real thing every week. A perfect example was a relaxed but passionate discussion about music between Ray and one of the regulars during a break. Ray was holding up his end of the conversation with snippets of tunes and relevant sonic permutations. It struck me that Ray was playing more real music on a break than most of the keyboard \"names\" do during an entire gig. Also, the gig offers three bonuses--plenty of material written by Parker, Dameron, et al (because Ray began playing that material shortly after it was penned), a surprisingly fine sound system, and no cover charge. Ray Santisi and friends perform every Sun Evening at the Terrace Lounge of the Marriott Hotel at Copley Place (617 236 5800) and every Sat afternoon at the Caravan Club, Revere from 3-7:00 pm (781 284 9559) . . . \" Stu Vandermark, CADENCE Magazine, July 2006
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\". . . Ray Santisi, Marshall Wood and Bob Moses opened the set with a romp through the music of George Gershwin, mostly but not exclusively Porgy and Bess material. Of course, it was more than a romp. They played the dickens out of it upside, downside, sideways - and always with a thoughtful understanding of the material. What a joy it is to hear Mr. Santisi let loose on an acoustic piano and with such challenging prodding percussion from Mr. Moses. Two masters giving lessons once each month with an emphatic bass player, usually (as in this case on 6/5) with Mr. Hand-in-glove Bull Fiddler. New York (and off-and-on-Boston) has Monday Night sessions at clubs where big bands shout and master improvisers - Les Paul comes to mind - hold court every week. Students and young journeymen show up to study at the feet/feats of the masters and walk away, shaking their heads and determined to put in more hours. Where is the Monday Night session for this trio in Boston, the Music School Capital of the Universe? You can learn just so much from books and jams and practice. There comes a time when witnessing a living, creative encyclopedia of the art in action is needed to challenge and inspire. And here it was on a Sunday afternoon, \"just\" an opener for another set of music by Patricia Adams and Friends. There should be several sets of this trio every Monday somewhere conducive. Until then the people who love the great jazz mainstream have to wait for the first Sunday of every month for the \"brunch lesson\". That\'s a long wait but the students also get the bonus of seeing how the best musicians help make a fine Jazz vocalist\'s work seem effortless. That\'s quite a bonus because you see the support, the heads, the solos, and the give-and-take in classic, evolving form. Patricia Adams has the gig and she knows what to do with it - with the words, with the charts, with the sequencing of events. She knows, for example that sometimes a vocalist with trio can be a duo that leads into another level of four voices. Also she sings as much for the band as she does for the audience, and everyone in the room gets more from each piece that way. The four of them are there on the first Sunday of every month from 10 in the morning to 2:30 (but most serious listeners show up after 12) at Ryles (617 876 9330)\" Stu Vandermark, Cadence Magazine, August 2005
Compositions BMI Work #
1. LESS TALK 850876
2. LIKE BLUES 871895
3. LITTLE SUE 883296
4. MINSTREL EYES 994378
5. MOON MIST 1007633
6. MOSE KNOWS 1013249
7. PENDULUMS 1162959
8. PERRYSPARASOL 1167560
9. SAM SPEAKS 1285483
10. SAPPHIRE 1289924
11. TAKE TWO 1452520
12. THEMEFORJOHN 1484664
SNIPPETS (Under Construction)
The Transition Sessions (Connoisseur Series) is a 2 CD set. Three rare Transition albums by Donald Byrd and Doug Watkins are collected here. \"Byrd\'s Eye View\" (with one bonus track) features Jazz Messengers Hank Mobley, Horace Silver and Art Blakey with guest Joe Gordon. \"Byrd Blows On Beacon Hill\" is a quartet affair with RAY SANTISI and Jim Zitano. \"Watkins At Large\" includes Mobley, Kenny Burrell, Duke Jordan and Art Taylor. Important early hard bop by some of its greatest practitioners. More www.bluenote.com
From Diana Krall\'s CD \"Language of Love\" review: \"At Berklee in Boston she studied piano with Ray Santisi. \"As a pianist, she was always into economy,\" he recalls. \"She has said that she took a cue from comedians Alan King and Jack Benny whose punch lines were very economical. Diana has always been aware that you don\'t have to go grandstanding to make good music.\" www.abcBookworld.com
From Eye On TDWI, Busted in Boston by Tim Feetham: \"That night I mellowed out with friends at the hotel bar & grill. Ray Santisi was playing with his trio. I heard Santisi the last time I was in Boston and really enjoyed his sounds. It was a pleasant way to wrap up the week.\" www.tdan.com
A Conversation With Herb Pomeroy:
\"Herb Pomeroy, the BMA\'s 2004 Musician of the Year, is renowned as a jazz trumpet player and as an educator. He stopped by the union office recently to talk about his musical life. We were joined by Dave Chapman and Mark Pinto, both former members of Herb\'s jazz band.
HP: I got a phone-call from Al Natale, he was VP at the union. He said he had one week at Copley Square for the jazz band. Was I interested in it? I called Dave, Jimmy Derba, Fred Buda, Everett Longstreth. Phil Wilson, Mike Monaghan, Dick Johnson, Ray Santisi, Jimmy Mosher...
DC: We all said \'Yes!\'
HP: We played the week at Copley Square, and we started to rehearse again. The guys came together for the love of the music.
DC: I really enjoyed rehearsing with the band on Sunday mornings. Herb was in his \'educator\' role during the rehearsals. We all came into those rehearsals fresh and really worked to get those arrangements up to performance level.
HP: I really learned a lot from the Sunday morning rehearsals and working with professional musicians. I developed an ability to see something on paper and hear it in my head.\"
TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 1958: \"Last Saturday night, the big brash band of Herb Pomeroy blew into Kresge with a \"Living History of Jazz\". This \"Living History\" consisted of a commentary on the evolution of jazz given by John McLelan, a noted jazzoplhile, and musical illustrations of the different forms by the Pomeroy aggregation. The band also played four selections in \"their own\" style. The event was sponsored by the MIT Pershing Rifles. Almost any \"Musical History of Such-and-Such\" always seems to leave us with the vague feeling that perhaps the time spent rehearsing a selection somebody-or-other could have been more profitably put to use. Of course, we are speaking about popular music and jazz, where original recordings are available. But, be that as it may, the performnce was, on the whole, pretty well done. Mr. McLellan\'s narration was a little more than the usual: First-Came-Dixieland-and-then-came-Swing \"history\" that is often heard. However, it was at times, a little too pedantic. On the other hand, Mr. McLellan\'s sense of humor was often shown (\"... the rhythm was brought over on slave ships by the West African Negroes. They might be called the \'Early West Coast School . . .\' \"). The Pomeroy band played always with enthusiasm. As an example, the audience was treated to the scene of half-a-dozen bandsmen playing while marching around the auditorium, demonstrating the early street parade and funeral jazz bands of New Orleans. A couple of the more interesting parts were most of all, the way a musical phrase might change from Armstrong thru Eldredge to Gillespe demonstrated by Lennie Johnson on solo trumpet, and secondly, the changing of \"the beat\" from Dixieland to Swing to Bop, demonstrated by Jimmy Zitano, on solo drums. Ray Santisi, piano, also deserves special commendation. Among those whose styles were represented were Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Jimmy Lunceford, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespe, Miles Davis, Woody Herman, and Gerry Mulligan. The Pomeroy band playing as the Pomeroy band is a loud and brassy, vigorous and spirited organization. What it may lack in finesse is more than made up for in pure elan. It has several capable sidemen among whom Lennie Johnson and Ray Santisi bear mentioning. This is a band to watch in the future. They may be seen in Boston at \"The Jazz Workshop\" and \"The Stable\". John McLellan may be heard over WHDH in a program of recorded jazz he conducts called \"Top Shelf\". The band consisted of Mr. Pomeroy, a trumpet man, Bill Leagan, Joe Ciavardone, and Gene DiStasio, trombones; Joe Gordon, Nick Capezuto, Lennie Johnson, and Everett Longstreth, trumpets; Dean Haskins, Bobby Freedman, Dave Chapman, and Varty Haroutunian, saxs; Ray Santisi, piano, and Jimmy Zitano, drums. The auditorium was not quite full of the non-foot- stamping MIT crowd. The Herb Pomeroy band is one of which we would like to see more.\"
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