rguntrip

Piano Player/Composer with funky/blues/latin style band+vRay Guntrip’s classical piano studies were brought to an abrupt end when he was conscripted for National Service at the age of twenty-one. As member of the Army Air Corps he was posted to the Far East and whilst there, was introduced to Jazz by, mainly, Filipino musicians. On returning to civilian life, career and family responsibilities took over. In the late 1970’s, with more time to spare, he was able to devote himself to the study of jazz piano and advance harmony. Throughout the 1980’s he was a member of the renowned jazz fusion group MSQ. Taking early retirement in 1993 Ray suddenly found the time to pursue and enjoy his passion for Jazz. As a self taught jazz musician, he now takes a special interest in composing and arranging original music. In addition to his freelance playing, he lead his own eight-piece jazz ensemble “El Nino”, playing at various venues and jazz festivals in London and the South East. In the late nineties, for a number of years ,together with his friend Jon Peel he organized a thriving Medway Jazz Festival. He now continues writing, arranging and recording original music working alongside leading UK. Jazz musicians. His current band “Green Machine” continues playing at venues throughout the South East. <a href="http://s02.flagcounter.com/more/qjN"><img src="http://s02.flagcounter.com/count/qjN/bg=FFFFFF/txt=000000/border=CCCCCC/columns=4/maxflags=30/viewers=0/labels=1/pageviews=1/"; alt="free counters" border="0"></a>