Search - Ray Bryant :: Alone at Montreux

Time Capsule.

Tom | Palatine, IL USA | 07/16/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Maybe it's easiest to sum things up in advance: I love this album.I love all things Ray, actually, but - I prefer the solo work to trio, and I prefer the live stuff to studio - still...This album is magic somehow. Like a photograph of an old relative you never met, but still feel you knew. I listen to this album (CD, I know) and feel very much like I am recalling having been there that night.Sigh.I can't begin to describe how wonderful this album is, and it would be pretentious of me to try. I will say this, if you are a familiar with Big Ray, this is one of his best."

The wonderful Ray Bryant

Bomojaz | South Central PA, USA | 08/12/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After playing/recording quite a bit of rock-and-rollish pop oriented stuff throughout the late `60s, Ray got a chance to air out his jazz chops again at the 1972 Montreux Jazz Festival. And he made the best of it. Bryant is an excellent blues player and he plays wonderfully on the blues tracks here: BLUES # 2 & 3 (both first recorded on Ray's highly regarded ALONE WITH THE BLUES album on Prestige from 1958), the ever-popular SLOW FREIGHT, and Avery Parrish's famous AFTER HOURS. Ray plays with a solid, sometimes even pounding, left hand, especially on GOTTA TRAVEL ON and CUBANO CHANT. His right hand can do everything under the sun a piano player is supposed to do, from producing sweeping, lilting melody phrases (GREENSLEEVES) to producing searing white heat (BLUES #2). LIEBESTRAUM BOOGIE sounds like it was an encore, and it's a delightful boogie on a classical tune; Ray has a lot of fun with it. Although not as outstanding as Ray's appearance at Montreux 5 years later in 1977 (recorded for Pablo), this showcases some of his best playing during this jazz-thin period of time."