Last year, on my father’s birthday, I asked the question, “What would Jimmy Raney think of YouTube transcriptions”? I went into some detail to express a certain point of view, but I’m not sure I came away with a satisfying answer. You be the judge: Jimmy Raney Birthday 2023. This year, on Doug’s, I am posing a similar question, “What would Doug Raney think of YouTube Content Creators”? (Ok. The question’s wording doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but let’s go with it for now) To be blunt, if Doug were alive, he’d probably get a little snarky and protective about anything involving him or Dad presented by others. And,…
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Happy Birthday Jimmy Raney (2024) – New Podcast & The Jimmy Raney Book
Those of you following me lately have heard about my recently published, The Jimmy Raney Book. Lyle Robinson and I talked about it in Part II of a podcast on his Jazz Guitar Life website, where we go into the details of the book, how it came to be and what’s in it. We also follow-up on some things we didn’t get to in Podcast 1. I’m thrilled all this is happening now after all of these years. MORE TO COME! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIMMY RANEY, 2024 Dad, we’re listening and learning from you now more that ever!
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At Long Last: The Jimmy Raney Book
For those of you who know me, you probably know that my intent to digitally reproduce my father’s original unpublished melodic line book along with my extended content started roughly in 2006 when I came into possession of the my father’s handwritten manuscript pages. I had seen them as early as 1985 when I was stayed with him for 6 months. As was the blogging style those days, I decided to document this process on my original Blogspot blog, “Raney Day Thoughts”. At the time, I thought perhaps this public declaration would force me to get it done. As it turned out, that fateful decision would leave me and the…
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What would Jimmy Raney think of YouTube transcriptions? (Happy Birthday Dad 2023)
On YouTube these days, you might notice an explosion of videos of musicians playing transcriptions of their favorite artists for others to watch. The quality varies widely, from seamless renditions with completed scores to pretty bad ones. And there’s an increasing number of Jimmy Raney solos out there as well. Doug’s too. On the one hand, this increased and deserved exposure of the Raney contribution to jazz is certainly welcome given the chronic lack of recognition. But on the other hand, I am not certain about the intentions of the people doing them. I know my brother was suspicious of the growing trend certainly, while he was alive. (Ofcourse that’s…
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Doug’s Path to Jazz
Doug Raney’s personality is a bit hard to describe. He had a sort of tough guy, school-of-hard-knocks persona which he hid his intellect under. Where we grew up in Briarwood was sort of a melting pot. There was some racial tension from time to time but for the most part we all got along. You just had to be cool enough to hang in the clique and act like you were willing to fight even if (for the most part) you didn’t have to. The local place to hang was the P.S. 117 schoolyard with an alternate hangout in Hoover Park near Archbishop Molloy High School. As in any social…
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Unraveling the Raneys
Recently at least a few people asked me if I was playing anymore. I said no, because well, it’s the truth. I don’t really know how it happened. It just happened. Some physical things, a lot of mental things and boom, C’est fini. People ask me to sit in but I usually refuse and the more I don’t do it … the more I don’t do it. Jerry Bergonzi, though I adore his playing, basically had to drag me onstage to sit in. I was in the front row at his gig and there was no piano player so there was zero excuse. It was a great experience but honestly…
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Happy Birthday Jimmy Raney (2021) – Time Marches On
So, I’ll be honest. I haven’t been handling reaching my own 60th birthday very well (2 days from now). I’ve been in a real funk about it. Those of you who know me intimately have gotten an earful of my various infirmities and laments over getting old and the change in my once youthful appearance. I honestly dread people with a camera phone and intentions. Where is my hair going all of the sudden and why does what little I have look like straw? Why won’t these aches and pains go away? Blood pressure, cholesterol, thyroid, tinnitus, an unbreakable weight barrier and unmovable gut? My nose? Since when do I…
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Raney, Bird licks & all that Polymetric stuff
At times, I get inspired to talk about two particular aspects of Jimmy Raney’s language often missed: rhythmic subtlety absorbed uniquely from Bird’s model, and the difference between “lick playing” and “non-lick playing”. I’ve blogged about it some but perhaps not enough. Part of the reason I don’t do talk about it more is that it’s a mental slog both for the reader and myself – an investment on both sides. It also might come across as overanalytical of that which, on it’s own terms, imparts the complexity directly without “libretto” so to speak. Nevertheless, not to talk about it, if the various forms of public commentary is at all…
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Reflections on my Brother, Doug Raney in 2020
Recently, I received a website email requesting I write about the details of the dark side of my brother’s life. This person just launched into the letter without preamble, “Hey so why don’t you write about the dark stuff and what happened to his guitars… I’d like to hear it because… blah, blah, etc. “ So aside from tactless manner in which this person wrote to me, I’ve pondered the implication that my website presents an idealized and selective view of my famous jazz family and in particular, Doug. In all honesty, it’s possible. This is one of the dangers of the social media age. Bill Maher refers to this…
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Memories of The Legend, the Myth and the Man (Happy Birthday Jimmy Raney 2020)
Each year on the August 20th, I struggle a bit with what to say about Jimmy Raney that I or his most ardent fans haven’t said already. The music of course, speaks for itself and thank God for that. But there are some things I perhaps haven’t shared chiefly due to my pack rat tendencies. The Featured image above shows just some of the fun things I’ve found in the closet recently. I will be adding these and others gradually on other pages of the site. The small photo shown is likely from ~1952 taken from his apartment in Sheridan Square. It’s really a wonderful snapshot of him and the…