Name Ray Copeland Role Musician | Children Keith Copeland | |
Similar People Wilbur Ware, Keith Copeland, Gigi Gryce, Melba Liston, Jimmy Cleveland | ||
Ray Copeland (July 17, 1926 – May 18, 1984) was an American jazz trumpet player and teacher.
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Personal life
Copeland was born in 1926 in Norfolk, Virginia, and died in 1984 in Sunderland, Massachusetts. He studied at Boys High School, Bedford-Stuyvesant.
His son Keith Copeland is a noted jazz drummer.
Career
Copeland's active career spanned from the 1940s to the 1980s. Throughout his career he participated on many swing and hard bop dates, appearing on the well known Monk's Music by Thelonious Monk in 1956. Copeland played with a swinging, upbeat approach, but was undoubtedly overshadowed by other top trumpeters of the era such as Lee Morgan and Clifford Brown. He toured with Thelonious Monk in 1968, and appeared at the 1973 Newport Jazz Festival. Later, Copeland was a Music Professor at Hampshire College, teaching jazz composition.
In 1974, he published the book The Ray Copeland Method and Approach to the Creative Art of Jazz Improvisation. Copeland never recorded as a session leader.
Discography
With Art Blakey
With Bob Brookmeyer
With Jimmy Cleveland
With Booker Ervin
With Art Farmer
With Thelonious Monk
With Oscar Pettiford
With Dave Pike
With Randy Weston
With Ernie Wilkins
With Phil Woods