Influential Chicago jazzman plays trombone, alto trombone, slide trumpet, cornet, tuba, percussion, and vocals. After classical lessons beginning at 8 years of age, Anderson drifted towards concerts of the AACM, while also immersing himself in Chicago blues and funk bands. He also now leads a group -- including another former Chicagoan, B-3 organist Amina Claudine Myers, and bassist Jerome Harris -- called the Ray Anderson Lapis Lazuli Band. Says Chicago Reader critic Neil Tesser, "He's... no stranger to genre bending, so when he indulges in guilty pleasures like blues and funk his music sails sky-high over the tired din coming out of the clubs on North Halsted."
Tesser's colleague Peter Margasak concurs, calling Anderson "a gregarious, prodigiously talented trombonist, [who] has proven himself equally comfortable playing funk and getting abstract with Anthony Braxton."
After moving to New York in 1972, he regularly sat in with Mingus, worked with Barry Altschul's and Anthony Braxton's groups, and did freelance work in the NY Latin music scene. In 1981, Downbeat Magazine voted him a "Talent deserving wider recognition."
Anderson takes the trombone to its expressive limits -- his upper range is incredible -- and he sometimes plays multiple notes at the same time -- by singing as he blows. Growling, sliding, and distorting tones are as natural to him as the mainstream trombone tradition.
His 1982 record (Enja Records) with his funk band Slickophonics is probably his best known, but also check out You Be (1985, Minor Music), Blues Bred in the Bone (1988, Enja), Every One of Us and Big Band Record (1992 & 1993, both on Gramavision), and on Lew Soloff's Little Wing.
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