Ray Russell Band

Veteran jazz/rock fusion guitarist Ray Russell started his career in the '60s with the John Barry Seven and Georgie Fame before going on to play sessions with the likes of David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Van Morrison, Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner and many others, as well as numerous film/TV projects including seven James Bond themes. Tonight he's launching his latest album 'Dangerous Bends' (Cuneiform Records) which features Tim Whitehead (sax), Jim Watson (keys), Laurence Cottle (bass) and Ian Palmer and Simon Phillips (drums). Tonight's show will feature George Baldwin on bass along with Tony Hymas (Jeff Beck band) on keys.

Veteran jazz/rock fusion guitarist Ray Russell started his career in the '60s with the John Barry Seven and Georgie Fame before going on to play sessions with the likes of Jeff Beck, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Van Morrison, Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner and many others, as well as numerous film/TV projects including seven James Bond themes. Tonight he's launching his latest album 'Dangerous Bends' (Cuneiform Records) which features Tim Whitehead (sax), Jim Watson (keys), Laurence Cottle (bass) and Ian Palmer and Simon Phillips (drums). Tonight's show will feature George Baldwin playing on bass along with Tony Hymas (Jeff Beck band) on keys.

Ray's 1968 solo debut 'Turn Circle' was the first of a series of increasingly free-wheeling albums bursting at the seams with compositional invention, soundscaping expertise which is recognisable in his previous album 'Fluid Architecture'. Ray is reputedly the first English guitarist with a pedal-board setup. During the years he played with prog-rockers and/or fusioneers Mouse, Nucleus, Rock Workshop, Chopyn, Rock Follies, Gil Evans Orchestra, RMS (Ray Russell, Mo Foster and Simon Philips) and more recently Mo Foster and Friends.

​Many will be familiar with his work in TV and film, from his early work on the James Bond films and Bergerac, Ray also worked with George Harrison on his Handmade Films projects Life of Brian, Water and Time Bandits. Through the '60s & '70s Ray made TV appearances on Top Of The Pops, Old Grey Whistle Test, and was a member of the TV group the Rock Follies for which they received two gold discs. Ray continued in TV and film as an award-winning composer and music producer for UK and US audiences. In recent years Ray created a storm on the BBC Antiques Roadshow with a rare guitar given to him by George Harrison and was filmed in California for the prestigious National Association of Music Merchants, as part of their renown NAMM Oral History programme.

In recent years Ray created a storm on the BBC Antiques Roadshow with a rare guitar given to him by George Harrison and filmed in California for the prestigious National Association of Music Merchants, as part of their renown NAMM Oral History programme.