05 July 2010
Whenever we talk about Ray Davies, we are always asked which Ray Davies. Find out more...
Other Featured Artist
We are proud to say we have the real deal; the man who played trumpet with everyone from the Beatles to Judy Garland. He played on scores of films and on hundreds of hits between 1955 and 1975 when he abandoned his trumpet for the composer’s pen. The one band he never played with is the Kinks.
In the golden era of recording, Ray was playing on 4 separate sessions every day. He was on the top of his game as a player and he was able to replicate that success as a composer. Listen to his story...
Click to listen now: 
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Q&A
| What was your most embarrassing faux pas? | Musically I once wrote what I thought was an original composition only to be told by the musicians during the recording sessions that I had inadvertently completely “ripped off” somebody elses melody! I had to re-write the Trombone solo during the tea break!
Non-musically....my lips are sealed. |
| What is your greatest/favourite claim to fame? | I’ll let you know when it happens. |
| Any musical guilty pleasures? | Yes. Writing unison parts and tacet bars for large orchestras. |
| Who would play you in a movie? | Leonardo DiCaprio (I must be joking!). |
| Which composer or band would you bring back from the dead? | Benny Goodman band featuring Harry James on trumpet and Gene Krupa on drums. |
| What is your greatest extravagance? | My wine bill. |
| Any words of wisdom you would like to offer or have received? | Advised my sons to try and find an occupation that they really enjoyed doing. That way it wouldn’t be a task and they would make a success of it and with a bit of luck someone would even pay them for doing what they liked doing! |
| Any hidden talents? | Not really, I have a dreadful golf handicap. |
| What/who would you put in Room 101? | People who send me questionnaires (sorry Charlotte!). |
| Your top 5 musical works of all time or today are? | “Appalachian Spring” (Copland) “West Side Story” (Bernstein) (I played in the orchestra when the show opened in the West End of London.) “Amahl and the night visitors” (Menotti). Almost any T.V./Film score by Pat Williams and I must include “The Rite of Spring” by Stravinsky as I was lucky enough to get him to write a few bars of this music and sign it for me. |
| What's behind you? | A big stick wielded by my Bank Manager. |
| If you could be reincarnated, who would you come back as? | Either Otis P. Driftwood or Capt. Spaulding (Groucho Marx) as I would love to try to get Margart Dupont to smile! |
| Have you ever been on Top of The Pops? | Did I? I’ll say! I played in the Orchestra every week for about 25 years!!! |
| What inspires you? | The telephone call from a Producer. |
| If you weren't writing music for a living what would you be doing? | Starving. |
| Do you ever hear a complete piece of music in your head before writing it/ recording it? | Always. |
| Do you download or buy music on CD? | Mostly buy C.D.s for in-car entertainment. |
| Other than family, what one thing would you rescue if your house was on fire? | May I have two items please? “Orchestration” by author Cecil Forsyth and my 78 rpm record of “I can’t get started” I played by Bunny Berigan. The first record I ever bought and I still have it. |
| What question have you always wanted someone to ask you, and what would be your answer? | Q. Why do I keep working at my age?
A. To me music is not work. I really enjoy what I do for a living and hope to carry on for some time yet! |
| Apart from composing,what other sides of the music industry are you connected with? | I've been Chairman of the P.R.S. Members Benevolent Fund since 2002 and I'm also
Chairman of the BASCA Gold Badge Awards. This takes up quite a lot of my time but I find it
quite rewarding trying to put something back in to the profession that has given me so much
pleasure over the years. |