Dr. Rackle And The Sound Griots
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Dr. Rackle And The Sound Griots

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States | Established. Jan 01, 1995 | SELF

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States | SELF
Established on Jan, 1995
Band Jazz Funk

Calendar

Music

Press


"Raymond "Dr. Rackle" Williams For All Time"

OCT 2, 2012
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Raymond "Dr. Rackle" Williams at Campaign Launch at Joy Theater, New Orleans, Louisiana by www.gettyimages.com
See details - Star Sightings


"Jazz Appreciation Month"

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The South Dallas Cultural Center Celebrates Jazz Appreciation Month with D'Jams events. This citywide celebration will be very enticing for North Texas Jazz lovers. So mark your calendars and make plans to join in on the ''Conversation about the Genius of Jackie McLean''. Former band members Alan Jay Palmer and Raymond Williams will lead the talk on April 21st at 6 p.m. Admission is $5 with the purchase of the concert ticket. The concert ''Remembering Jackie'' is a homage to Jackie McClean featuring the Alan Jay Palmer Quintet and Raymond ''Dr. Rackle'' Williams of Hot 8 Brass Band. Showtime is 8 p.m. the same night. Tickets can be purchased at the door - The Dallas Weekly


"People, Get Ready The 36th annual Jazz & Heritage Festival is here with one of the festival's most exciting lineups."

Raymond 'Dr. Rackle' Williams & the Sound Griots
11:15 a.m., BellSouth/WWOZ Jazz Tent, Contemporary Jazz This band is a side project for trumpeter Raymond Williams of Hot 8 Brass Band, a local veteran who has performed with national legends such as Jackie McLean as well as local heroes Anders Osborne and Monk Boudreaux. - Gambit


"Sue Terry Returns To Hartford"

Sue Terry Returns To Hartford
RIFFS - JAZZ NOTES
Brings Quintet To Women's Fest At Cafe 880
March 09, 2000|By OWEN McNALLY; Courant Staff Writer
Alto saxophonist Sue Terry, a longtime Hartford favorite, performs tonight at the women's jazz festival at Hartford's Cafe 880 Jazz.

Terry leads a quintet featuring trumpeter Raymond ``Dr. Rackle'' Williams, pianist Dwight ``Sharp'' Redway, bassist Stephen ``King'' Porter and drummer George Mastrogiannis. Sets are at 8:30, 10 and 11:30 p.m. Admission is $7.




The New York musician began her career in Hartford, honing her skills while an undergraduate at Hartt School of Music by jamming in local jazz clubs, including the 880.

She was a cum laude graduate at Hartt, where she studied with and became a protege of alto saxophonist Jackie McLean.

A versatile player, she has worked with an impressive, varied array of musicians, including Clark Terry, Al Jarreau, Wallace Roney, Billy Taylor, Chaka Khan, George Duke, Hilton Ruiz, Mike Longo and Dianne Reeves. She has appeared as a jazz soloist with the National Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the New York Pops.

Besides alto, she is also an accomplished clarinetist and flutist and an award-winning composer.

Her writing and playing are featured on numerous recordings, including ``No Dummies Allowed,'' with the Clifford Jordan Big Band, and ``Something's Coming'' with DIVA, the celebrated all-women band.

In ``The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD,'' Terry is praised as ``a formidable musical intelligence.'' Stanley Crouch, the jazz and social critic, praises the passion in her playing, writing that she's ``intent on firing from the heart every chance she gets.''

She co-leads the group Terra Mars with her husband, pianist John di Martino.

The women's jazz festival -- an event running weekends through March at Cafe 880 -- continues with performances by blues singer D.D. Bastos & the Road Kings on Friday and vocalist Julia Holmes with Latin Quarter on Saturday. Sets Friday and Saturday nights are at 9, 10:30 and midnight. Admission is $8 each night.

Other events in the women's jazz fest include: R&B vocalist Teresa Wright with Sax Cetric, March 16; an act to be announced on March 17; pianist Mary DiPaolo Davis, March 18; saxophonist Stephany Long and her all-female band, March 23; saxophonist Sheila Cooper and her all-female band, March 24; vocalist Dianne Mower, March 25; and Hannah's Field, March 31.

Cafe 880 Jazz is at 880 Maple Ave., Hartford. Information: 860-956-0880 - The Hartford Courant


"McPartland Still Getting Better After All These Years"

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Rene McLean performs Saturday at 9 p.m. at Cafe 880 Jazz, 880 Maple Ave., Hartford. The noted saxophonist appears with an ensemble led by trumpeter Ray ``Dr. Rackle'' Williams. Admission: $12. Call Cafe 880 at 860-956-0880. - The Harford Courant


Discography

Jackie McLean Septet - Fire And Love  (somethin'else (J) TOCJ-5590)

Raymond Williams (trumpet, flugelhorn) Jackie McLean (alto saxophone) Rene McLean (tenor saxophone, flute) Steve Davis (trombone) Alan Jay Palmer (piano) Phil Bowler (bass) Eric McPherson (drums)Avatar Studios, NYC, July 13 & 15, 1997 Mr. E, Beautiful Majestic One, Optimism, I Found You, The Griot, Excursions, Cryptography, Entrapment, Rites Of Passage.

Photos

Bio

Dr. Rackle And The Sound Griots

Dr. Rackle And The Sound Griots was formed in 1995 by Raymond "Dr. Rackle" Williams in Hartford, Connecticut. Raymond was given the name Dr. Rackle by his teacher and mentor Jackie McLean, who is also known as Dr. Jackle. The song "The Griot", recorded on Jackie McLean's Album "Fire And Love" which was released by Bluenote Records, was composed by Williams, who was just becoming a member of McLean's band in 1993. The "Griot" was written in reference to McLean, as the term "griot" means a knowledgeable and wise person who passes that kowledge on to the community through music.poem,and storytelling. Williams mentioned to McLean (The Griot), a few years later, his vision of starting his own band, and was set on naming the band, "The Raymond Williams Quintet"' McLean suggested to Williams that he name the band "Dr. Rackle And The Sound Griots".

Dr. Rackle And The Sound Griots has performed extensively throughtout Connecticut since its formation until October 2000, when Williams moved back to his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. Williams started the band again in 2001, performing in many New Orleans venues such as Bean Brothers, Snug Harbor, The Zeitgeist Multidisciplinary Arts Center in a tribute concert to Jackie McLean, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2003 and 2005. Due to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Williams had to disband the group and has been working extensively with the Hot 8 Brass Band and as a freelance musician in various bands. This year Dr. Rackle has his heart set on forming the Sound Griots again, to bring the traditional, modern and contemporary jazz sound, to include bebop, modal, free form, and funk, to audiences everywhere. Dr. Rackle And The Sound Griots performs original music, as well as the music of Jackie McLean, Ellis Marsalis, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Herbie Hancock as well as many other jazz greats.

Dr. Rackle And The Sound Griots are currently available for tours, club dates, parties, weddings, concerts, Festivals, Clinics, Workshops, residencies, master classes and private lessons.

Dr. Rackle can be contacted at: 8502 Bill Street, New Orleans, LA. 70127, Phone numbers: (504) 289-0771 or (504) 329-4410, e-mail: drrackle@gmail.com 

Raymond Williams was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 2, 1961. He became interested in the trumpet at age 11 after seeing neighbors trumpeter Willie Thompson and drummer Johnny Thompson playing in the backyard. He ran inside and excitedly told he parents he wanted to play the trumpet like Louis Armstrong. Within a week his mother brought home a trumpet and his grandfather showed him how to get a sound out of the horn. In school he played in school bands (marching, concert, funk, jazz and brass ensembles). His brothers and sisters also played instruments, motivating Raymond to pursue a life in music. He spent his formative years working in some of New Orleans' most respected big bands and brass bands and studying under Ellis Marsalis at the New Orleans Center of Creative Arts (NOCCA). 

Raymond's burning desire to carry on his proud New Orleans trumpet heritage caused him to pull up his roots in his native town and settle in Hartford, Connecticut in 1986 to study with Jackie McLean at the HARTT School of Music, where Raymond gained an excellent reputation as one of the New England region's most versatile and in-demand trumpet players.
Raymond's versatility and inborn leadership qualities have helped him flourish as an instrumentalist, composer and bandleader. These qualities eventually caught the attention of his teacher and mentor, jazz great Jackie McLean, who eventually asked Raymond to join his sextet.
Since his debut with the Jackie McLean Sextet at The Village Vanguard in December 1993, Raymond has gone on to delight audiences around the world at many major festivals, concert and club venues. His recording debut on Jackie McLean's new release, Fire and Love, has Raymond contributing two compositions.
In addition to playing with Jackie McLean, Raymond has also lead his own groups, including Dr. Rackle and The Sound Griots, performing dynamic originals and fresh takes on standards, and The Artist Collective-based award-winning band Collective Expression (1989-2000), a group of talented protgs of legendary alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of American's true artform, which he also led from 1994-2000. Collective Expression received The Hartford Advocate's Best-of-the-Bands award for Best Acoustic Jazz in 1992. Past and present members include Jimmy Green (tenor sax -Horace Silver Quintet), Abraham Burton (alto sax-Art

Band Members