{"id":2961,"date":"2023-07-20T17:05:01","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T17:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/?p=2961"},"modified":"2023-07-20T17:05:01","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T17:05:01","slug":"blog-july-20th-ray-shulman-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/?p=2961","title":{"rendered":"Blog July 20th Ray Shulman- Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2962\" src=\"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ray-shulman.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"620\" height=\"372\" srcset=\"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ray-shulman.webp 620w, https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ray-shulman-300x180.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Happy Birthday to Ray Shulman!\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6L3MzYp9Om0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I started writing this blog on February 6<sup>th<\/sup> 2014 and Ray Shulman was mentioned in the very first episode. He sadly died in March and recently the Guardian wrote this obituary.<\/p>\n<p>Ray Shulman, who has died aged 73, was an adventurous composer, musician and record producer. He was born in Portsmouth to Louis Shulman and Rebecca Laufer, and attended Portsmouth Technical high school. At first he seemed set to become a jazz trumpeter like his dad, then seemed headed for the National Youth Orchestra, but in 1966 he was persuaded to join his older brother Derek\u2019s R&amp;B group Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. Their career \u2013 whose highpoint was the psychedelic hit Kites \u2013 flared and faded while Ray was still a teen, but the group soon reinvented itself as Gentle Giant, an ensemble of supremely accomplished multi-instrumentalists who combined medieval, baroque, folk, jazz and rock elements with joyous panache.<\/p>\n<p>Too challenging for the charts, the band\u2019s music dazzled and delighted audiences in concert. Integral to its charms were Ray\u2019s muscular but always elegant bass playing and his sprightly violin (often bounced around the hall by an innovative sound system).<\/p>\n<p>It was after one such gig in 1973, in Cleveland, that Barbara Tanner, a photographer, snapped Ray outside a strip club and joked that she would send it to his mother if he didn\u2019t stay in touch. Tan and Ray were partners from that moment, marrying in 1981.<\/p>\n<p>After Gentle Giant bowed out in 1980, Ray experienced a creative renaissance as a producer of quirky alternative pop. He produced Bj\u00f6rk\u2019s breakthrough band the Sugarcubes and a slew of indie acts, including his personal favourites, AR Kane, with whom he also played bass. Morphing into a tech wizard, he went on to score video games, release a techno 12-inch under the name Head Doctor, author DVDs for bands such as New Order and Queen, and compose commercials for Nike.<\/p>\n<p>Ray\u2019s lack of interest in reforming Gentle Giant when prog came back in vogue frustrated fans; he had certainly moved on, but his alienation was not disapproval. \u201cSorry to give the impression that I\u2019m not a GG fan,\u201d he told me. \u201cI loved our time and like the fact it\u2019s still remembered, particularly when sampled by hip-hop acts.\u201d A heartwarming YouTube video of Proclamation, directed by Ray\u2019s nephew Noah and recorded during Covid lockdown by a far-flung collective of younger-generation fans and former band members, celebrated the music\u2019s enduring verve. Ray had long abandoned his violin but he contributed some banjo, smiling gently.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gentle Giant &quot;Proclamation&quot; Official Fan Video\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NYjFP8gildU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>He is survived by Tan and his brothers, Derek and Phil.<\/p>\n<p>I will share my own memories of Ray next week.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Quote of the Week<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2963\" src=\"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/ca571703c5354719abcf95a568244786-dance-quotes-music-quotes.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"736\" height=\"736\" srcset=\"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/ca571703c5354719abcf95a568244786-dance-quotes-music-quotes.jpg 736w, https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/ca571703c5354719abcf95a568244786-dance-quotes-music-quotes-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/ca571703c5354719abcf95a568244786-dance-quotes-music-quotes-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/ca571703c5354719abcf95a568244786-dance-quotes-music-quotes-624x624.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; I started writing this blog on February 6th 2014 and Ray Shulman was mentioned in the very first episode. He sadly died in March and recently the Guardian wrote this obituary. Ray Shulman, who has died aged 73, was an adventurous composer, musician and record producer. He was born in Portsmouth to Louis [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ken-shearsmiths-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2964,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2961\/revisions\/2964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}