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The Raney Legacy

Devoted to the music of Jimmy, Doug and Jon Raney

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    • Jimmy Raney
    • Doug Raney
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    • Rare Recordings
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  • The Jimmy Raney Book: Published!
  • Education/Clinics
    • On Scales and Improvisation
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    • On Picking and Phrasing
    • On Timing
    • On Displacement
  • Interviews
    • Bill Crow
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    • Terry Gross/Fresh Air Interview
    • Guitar Magazine 1977
    • The Jazz Guitar Life
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    • Jamey Aebersold
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  • Contact Me
  • Articles
  • Biography
    • Jimmy Raney
    • Doug Raney
    • Jon Raney
  • Transcriptions
  • Music
    • Rare Recordings
    • Tunes
  • The Jimmy Raney Book: Published!
  • Education/Clinics
    • On Scales and Improvisation
    • On Sight-Reading
    • On Picking and Phrasing
    • On Timing
    • On Displacement
  • Interviews
    • Bill Crow
    • Bob Brookmeyer
    • Jim Hall
    • Terry Gross/Fresh Air Interview
    • Guitar Magazine 1977
    • The Jazz Guitar Life
  • Everybody Digs Jimmy
  • Raney Gallery
  • Letters & Writing
    • Reviews/Clippings
  • Resources/Friends
    • Jamey Aebersold
    • Marvin Fourte
    • Glen Hodges
    • Tim Quinn
    • Jon Raney Keyboard Musings
  • Contact Me
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  • Jimmy Raney

    Happy Birthday Doug Raney 2025: The Son Also Rises.

    August 29, 2025

    It’s been over 9 years since Doug Raney left this world, which is still hard for me to fathom given he never even reached age 60. I probably have explored enough comparisons of Doug and Dad’s tragic personal struggles over the years, so this time I would like to focus on a less-explored topic, namely, how would I compare Doug to Jimmy generally? Personality Doug and Jimmy had strikingly different personalities. Where Dad had the air of a philosophic school teacher, often waxing on such brainy topics such as quantum mechanics or literary classics, Doug was more of a no-bullshit realist. Not that Doug wasn’t interested in some of the…

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    Jon Raney

    Related Posts

    David Guccione: JR & the Holy Bebop

    On Language: Unforgettable conversations with Jimmy Raney, Doug Raney, myself… and the World

    May 8, 2020

    Jazz Improvisation and the Big Picture Stuff

    November 9, 2024

    What would Jimmy Raney think of YouTube transcriptions? (Happy Birthday Dad 2023)

    August 20, 2023
  • Jimmy Raney

    Happy Birthday, Jimmy Raney 2019

    August 20, 2019

    I hate to be a broken record but…drop the needle back again… I still find it astounding how profoundly Jimmy Raney is underestimated historically. Save a few critics, notably Ira Gitler and Whitney Balliett, it seems like he’s largely expunged from jazz history. The other day I watched a jazz guitar history video by the noted guitar video blogger, Rick Beato. He has a ton of fun videos on rock and jazz fusion guitar with transcriptions and insightful commentary. So I was a bit stunned at his omission of my father from the list in his video, THE GUITAR 1929-1969 | THE PLAYERS YOU NEED TO KNOW which featured a…

    Read More
    Jon Raney

    Related Posts

    Keeping the meter running…

    May 10, 2020

    Doug’s Path to Jazz

    August 29, 2022

    Unraveling the Raneys

    August 20, 2022
  • Jimmy Raney

    Faux Pas and Past Lives

    February 12, 2019

    In my previous post about Tinnitus, it is likely I mistook my fair use rights of (what I thought was) a royalty free image of a gentleman’s hand on his ear. Facebook appears to have blocked the previous post url on Facebook Community Standards grounds. I have since cartoonized the image (below left) and added a few doohickeys to make it mine. Creative license I guess is not the same thing as … license to create (?) (Funny I can’t do ellipsis anymore without hearing Stephen Colbert in my head, “Dot, dot, DOT...”) Anyway, This quick follow-up story is essentially an elaborate way of making lemonade out of lemons, so to speak.

    Read More
    Jon Raney

    Related Posts

    Jazz Improvisation and the Big Picture Stuff

    November 9, 2024

    Doug Raney in the Age of Content Creation

    August 29, 2024

    Doug’s Path to Jazz

    August 29, 2022
  • Jimmy Raney

    Tinnitus Anyone? (part 2)

    February 10, 2019

    Following up on my previous post, Tinnitus: The Silent Killer…Condition.  A week after publishing the article, I visited an ENT about my tinnitus problem. He basically confirmed almost everything I said about it: There is no cure for it. Most natural remedies are nonsense or perform no better than a placebo. The only decent prospects for cure are in the cognitive psychology realm.   The doctor even gave me a referral brochure of the same clinic, the Center of Hearing and Communications mentioned in my previous article. So far, I have no recurrences in the nightmare tinnitus syndrome that woke me in the middle of the night. I do notice the pitches…

    Read More
    Jon Raney

    Related Posts

    At Long Last: The Jimmy Raney Book

    July 27, 2024

    Raney, Bird licks & all that Polymetric stuff

    February 15, 2021
    Jimmy Raney Items

    Memories of The Legend, the Myth and the Man (Happy Birthday Jimmy Raney 2020)

    August 20, 2020
  • Jimmy Raney

    Tinnitus: The Non-Silent Killer… Condition

    January 23, 2019

    In recent weeks, I have begun to encounter something in the background of my life that I long ignored, tinnitus.  And no, it is not because I recently saw the remake of “A Star is Born”. The British tend to pronounce it, “TIN-i-tis “. Like an incidental comment over a cup of tea. “I have this vexing TIN-i-tis while reading. Like a car alarm vibrating in my skullll… Frightfully annoying, my old chap” Americans (or perhaps New Yorkers, since we don’t know anything about anybody else) tend to pronounce it, tin-AYY-tis. (Think Fred Stoller) “So I’ve got this ringing in the ears thing? You know I think it’s called tin-AYY-tis? Yeah, I think I want to…

    Read More
    Jon Raney

    Related Posts

    Jimmy Raney’s “Evolving Sequence”: Is That Really a Thing?

    October 2, 2024
    Jimmy Raney, 1981

    Happy Birthday Jimmy Raney (2021) – Time Marches On

    August 20, 2021

    Keeping the meter running…

    May 10, 2020
  • Jimmy Raney

    The Print job that won’t die (aka Stop spoolin’ & cancelin’ & poundin’)

    January 4, 2019

    Not sure what is possessing me to write about this particular topic and solve but …what the hell. I’m sure many of you have just accepted this Windows printing quirk and threw your hands up the air.

    Read More
    Jon Raney

    Related Posts

    Happy Birthday Jimmy Raney 2025: Playing Bebop is still harder than you think…

    August 20, 2025
    David Guccione: JR & the Holy Bebop

    On Language: Unforgettable conversations with Jimmy Raney, Doug Raney, myself… and the World

    May 8, 2020

    Happy Birthday Doug Raney 2025: The Son Also Rises.

    August 29, 2025
  • Jimmy Raney

    Good Morning Heartache – Doug Raney’s Birthday

    August 29, 2018

    This morning I woke up at 430. It’s as if Doug was waking me up to write something. Death is a weird thing. It’s something you push to the back of your mind – because the reality of it is overwhelming. I think about Doug a lot, replaying his solos and the things he said to me in our short time together in my mind. Over and over. And his death, bringing his body to a hearse in front of Montmartre Club in Denmark and having it drive off. An unbelievable aching sorrow that doesn’t go away unless I just put it out of my mind. It just doesn’t get…

    Read More
    Jon Raney

    Related Posts

    Keeping the meter running…

    May 10, 2020
    Jimmy Raney, 1981

    Happy Birthday Jimmy Raney (2024) – New Podcast & The Jimmy Raney Book

    August 20, 2024

    At Long Last: The Jimmy Raney Book

    July 27, 2024
  • Jimmy Raney

    Happy Birthday Jimmy Raney 2018!

    August 20, 2018

      Hi Folks, As is becoming customary for me, I’m taking this week off to just chill on the beaches of Florida. So as quick as I can put this one together, just dropping a note to pay homage to the master, Jimmy Raney on his birthday.

    Read More
    Jon Raney

    Related Posts

    Unraveling the Raneys

    August 20, 2022

    Keeping the meter running…

    May 10, 2020
    Jimmy Raney, 1981

    Happy Birthday Jimmy Raney (2021) – Time Marches On

    August 20, 2021
  • Jimmy Raney,  Jon Raney

    The price of not being vigilant

    July 23, 2018

    Recently I’ve been thinking about the past. All the experiences I’ve had, people I’ve met, music I’ve made and things I’ve written about. When the years pile up, it can be staggering all the things that can be created over time.

    Read More
    Jon Raney

    Related Posts

    Jimmy Raney Items

    Memories of The Legend, the Myth and the Man (Happy Birthday Jimmy Raney 2020)

    August 20, 2020
    Jimmy Raney, 1981

    Happy Birthday Jimmy Raney (2024) – New Podcast & The Jimmy Raney Book

    August 20, 2024

    Doug’s Path to Jazz

    August 29, 2022
  • Uncategorized

    Happy Birthday Doug Raney 2017

    August 29, 2017

    As I reflect on the loss of my brother for the second year, I have an even greater realization on how much he impacted the lives of people fortunate enough to hear him live, play with and to hang with him.

    Read More
    Jon Raney
 Older Posts

Latest Blogs

  • Aug 29, 2025 Happy Birthday Doug Raney 2025: The Son Also Rises.
  • Aug 20, 2025 Happy Birthday Jimmy Raney 2025: Playing Bebop is still harder than you think…
  • Nov 09, 2024 Jazz Improvisation and the Big Picture Stuff
  • Oct 02, 2024 Jimmy Raney’s “Evolving Sequence”: Is That Really a Thing?
  • Aug 29, 2024 Doug Raney in the Age of Content Creation

STELLA BY STARLIGHT (“STRINGS AND SWINGS” 1967)

https://www.jonraney.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/08-Stella-By-Starlight-G.mp3

Jon Raney

Jon Raney
Bill Crow is 97 years young and still going strong. Bill and I had gotten to know each other in the 90's but we never really sat down and got into some of the finer details of his life and his relationship with my father, Guitarist, Jimmy Raney.

Bill met Dad first when they played together with vibraphonist Teddy Charles and from there Dad recommended Bill for Stan Getz’ band. Bill continued to play with Stan and Bob Brookmeyer. Brookmeyer, Hall and Dad became close friends. Bill went on to play with a famous trio with Marion McPartland then many years with Gerry Mulligan including on the famous film, Jazz on a Summer’s Day.

Bill is a bit of raconteur of jazz with an encyclopedic memory of all his experiences that he rattles like they happened yesterday. He writes a regular jazz column and is the author of 2 books, Jazz Anecdotes and from Birdland to Broadway. His website is https://www.billcrowbass.com
Bill Crow Interview
This is a demonstration of Jimmy Raney Book Chapter 3 and how you can use it to improve your playing
Jimmy Raney Book: Sequence & Development
To Get the Jimmy Raney Book visit
https://www.shermusic.com/

It's also available at Amazon
Jimmy Raney Displacement Demo
To buy The Jimmy Raney Book visit:
https://www.shermusic.com
Direct link to the book 
https://www.shermusic.com/9781883217853.php
Also available on Amazon
The Jimmy Raney Book: An Introduction
My interpretation of the Bill Evans classic. Still working on it! (For those of you who saw it before and commented my apologies for removing it! Had some issues and editing in any meaningful way is not really possible)
Keyboard Workshop: Very Early
In the spirit of "Workshop", I present this little unfinished woodshed ditty I was working a while back on Bill Evans' classic "Periscope".  So here's the thing, it's deceptively hard. Yes, it's in C but that's precisely the reason I find it hard. It's a "sea of C" so to speak and ALOT of repeated turnarounds on  II-V & III-VI. 

In other words, I find it easy to miss in C because they are similar white keys. At least with flats, you have some black key "guardrails".  And with the constantly repeated turnarounds, you have to find something interesting and different while maintaining consistency.  :)
Peri's Scope
I record for fun on my Yamaha P115 on some of my Fav Jazz Standards. 
This one is in the standard key of Eb. Was trying to press for some different elements: Changed harmony on the opening chord and some Bud Powell-like rising II-V chord substitutions in the middle. Enjoy!
Keyboard Workshop: Misty
I record for fun on my Yamaha P115 on some of my Fav Jazz Standards. 
This one is in the standard key of Eb. You might find some of my Shearing influences on this one.
Enjoy!
Keyboard Workshop: STAR EYES
I record for fun on my Yamaha P115 on some of my Fav Jazz Standards. 
On this one I tried to both choose an odd key and some more challenging harmonies. 
Enjoy!
Keyboard Workshop: My One and Only love
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