I was introduced to Ray Gomez in the
late spring of this year, after his gig with the Mohegan Sun All Stars,
and had been in pursuit of this (seemingly unattainable!) interview throughout
the summer. I was familiar with Ray as being the exciting guitarist who
had played with Stanley Clarke back in the 70's. From his exhilarating
performance that evening at Mohegan, it was clear that although absent
from center-stage, Ray has been busy honing his renowned cutting-edge
technique to razor sharpness! I was anxious to learn where his music had
taken him over the years, and particularly about his current recording
project. My perseverance paid off. In mid-August, I got a call from Ray
inviting me to meet with him at Unique Recording Studios, located in the
center of New York's Times Square, where he has been working on his new
CD.
First, by way of background, Ray Gomez was born in Casablanca, Morocco.
Inherently talented, as a child Ray played drums and piano, ultimately
finding his musical voice in the guitar. Ray and his family moved to Spain,
where he began playing at age 15 with the number-one Spanish group, "Los
Pekenikes," and by age 18, had a top international hit, "Mamy
Blue" with his own band. A meeting with George Harrison two years
later landed him in England - and in the company of leading progressive
rock musicians of the day; among them, Keith Emerson, Jon Anderson, Patrick
Moraz, and Rick Gretsch. An invitation to become part of a new band brought
Ray to New York the following year, (where, on the very day of his arrival,
he was asked to play with John Lennon!). A meeting with Lenny White introduced
Ray to the emerging jazz-fusion scene and collaborations with Deodato,
Narada Michael Walden, Herbie Hancock and Stanley Clarke.
Ray's first solo album, Volume", was released by Columbia Records in 1978, followed by several moves (California, Spain and the Canary Islands), collaborations with many great contemporary artists (including the late Roy Buchanan, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Tori Amos) and a return to New York in 1988. Since then, Ray has been involved in numerous recording projects (Tony Smith, Dennis Chambers, Chris Palmaro, Buddy Miles, Will Lee & etc.), commercial work including an instructional video, the release of a live album - all interspersed with participation (both performance and organizing) in several European festivals and tours (Palabra de Guitarra Latina, Jazz a Vienne, La Nuit de la Guitare"), and is scheduled to play at the Nerac, France Guitar Festival in February 2003.