Ray Obiedo – Twist
I have admired and followed the American contemporary jazz guitarist Ray Obiedo for years. That started when I got the CD ‘Sweet Summer Days’ in 1997.
Ray spent his youth in the bay area around San Francisco, where the sounds of Miles Davis, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Henry Mancini and also those of Motown Records influenced him. But the biggest influence came from James Brown, on whose funky, percussion-like guitar sound Ray built his technique.
He joined organist Johnny “Hammond” Smith on tour in 1974, then trombonist Julian Priester, and toured the world with Herbie Hancock in 1978-79. He has a long association with percussionist Pete Escovedo, and has also worked with George Duke, Lou Rawls, Grover Washington Jr., Bill Summers, Brenda Russell, The Whispers and most recently Bob Mintzer’s Big Band. Ray’s songs have been covered by Tower of Power, Sheila E, Marion Meadows, steel pan player Andy Narell, jazz guitarist Bruce Forman and The Pete Escovedo Orchestra. In 1989 he went solo with ‘Perfect Crime’.
Smooth Jazz Daily 