The Artists Recording Collective (ARC) is pleased to officially announce that Dr. Ronnell L. Bright has joined our artist roster.  In a telephone conversation with ARC, Dr. Bright and his wife Dianna, stated that material ranging from unreleased musical recordings, as well as audio and video interviews will be released.

“…Jazz is about the truth. It’s about creating and playing music from your center, so that what comes out is really you.” — Ronnell Bright

We encourage readers to also view the content that comes from this GOOGLE SEARCH RESULT to get an idea of the extent of Dr. Ronnell L. Bright’s career.  Of particular note is the 5-Part interview by music journalist, Marc Meyers on his JazzWax Blog.  There is also a very interesting Bill Fogarty piece published by the Jazz Ambassador Magazine.

BIOGRAPHY

A talented pianist who made an impact at a young age, Ronnel Bright has had compositions recorded by Sarah Vaughan, Cal Tjader, Horace Silver and Blue Mitchell, and collaborated with lyricist Johnny Mercer. He won a piano competition at nine and played with The Chicago Youth Piano Symphony Orchestra in 1944. Bright attended Juilliard and graduated in the early ’50s, playing his first jazz dates with a navy band. He later worked in Chicago with bassist Johnny Tate and was Carmen McRae’s accompanist in the mid-’50s. Bright moved to New York in 1955, then performed and recorded with Rolf Kuhn and formed his own trio in 1957. He played in Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in 1957 and 1958, and was accompanist and conductor for Vaughan, Lena Horne and Gloria Lynne at various times during the late ’50s and early ’60s. He became Nancy Wilson’s arranger, conductor, pianist and music director in 1964, moving to Los Angeles. There Bright became involved in studio work and joined Supersax in 1972. After leaving them in 1974, Bright taught high school for a year.

- by Ron Wynn

All Music Group

DR. RONNELL L. BRIGHT JOINS ARC

DR. RONNELL L. BRIGHT CREDITS

Year	Album	Artist
1956	After Hours Jazz	Ronnell Bright
1956	Bright’s Spot	Ronnell Bright
1956	Johnny Pate Trio	Johnnie Pate
1956	Trombones & Flute	Frank Wess
1957	After Glow	Carmen McRae
1957	Bright Flight	Ronnell Bright
1957	Jazz Is Busting Out All Over	Frank Wess
1957	Streamline	Rolf Kuhn
1957	Two Franks Please!	Frank Foster with Frank Wess
1958	No Count Sarah	Sarah Vaughan
1958	Rodgers & Hart Songbook	Sarah Vaughan
1958	Ronnell Bright Trio	Ronnell Bright Trio
1958	This Is Me, J.C.	J.C. Heard
1959	After Hours at the London House	Sarah Vaughan
1960	Blue’s Moods [Japan]	Blue Mitchell
1961	Hawk Relaxes	Coleman Hawkins
1962	Groovin’ with Buddy Tate	Buddy Tate
1963	Hollywood: My Way	Nancy Wilson
1963	I Just Dropped by to Say Hello [Japan Import]	Johnny Hartman
1964	After the Lights Go Down Low and Much More!!! [UK]	Freda Payne
1965	Nancy Wilson Show!	Nancy Wilson
1966	Workin’	Shirley Scott
1969	Hurt So Bad	Nancy Wilson
1971	Donny Hathaway	Donny Hathaway
1973	Supersax Plays Bird, Vol. 2: Salt Peanuts	Supersax
1973	Supersax Plays Bird	Supersax
1975	I Get a Kick Out of You	Anita O’Day
1984	Song for You	Anita O’Day
1986	Complete Sarah Vaughan on Mercury, Vol. 3: Great Show	Sarah Vaughan
1986	So	Peter Gabriel
1987	Compact Jazz: Sarah Vaughan (Live)	Sarah Vaughan
1987	Compact Jazz: Sarah Vaughan	Sarah Vaughan
1989	Dear Mr. Basie	Frank Wess and the Harry Edison Orchestr
1990	In Montreux	Dee Dee Bridgewater
1990	Thanks for the Memory	Ronnell Bright
1991	I Get a Kick Out of You: The Cole Porter Songbook, Vo	Various Artists
1992	Capitol 50th Anniversary Jazz Box	Various Artists
1992	Essential Sarah Vaughan: The Great Songs	Sarah Vaughan
1992	Jazz ‘Round Midnight: Sarah Vaughan	Sarah Vaughan
1993	Complete Cole Porter Songbooks	Various Artists
1993	Memorial Album	Sarah Vaughan
1994	Cole Porter in Concert: Just One of Those Live Things	Various Artists
1994	Either Side of Midnight	Various Artists
1994	Verve Jazz Masters 18	Sarah Vaughan
1995	Divine Miss V	Sarah Vaughan
1995	Groove Therapy	Richard Simon
1995	I’ll Be Seeing You	Carmen McRae
1995	Live in Chicago	Sarah Vaughan
1995	Love Album [US]	Doris Day
1995	Trombone Album	Various Artists
1996	All the Things You Are: The Jerome Kern Songbook	Various Artists
1996	American Songbook Series: James Van Heusen	Various Artists
1996	Jazz for Thousand Oaks	Buddy Collette
1997	Complete Jerome Kern Songbooks	Various Artists
1997	Lover Man [Meteor]	Sarah Vaughan
1997	Move Over Darling	Doris Day
1997	Texas Tenors	Various Artists
1997	Ultimate Sarah Vaughan	Sarah Vaughan
1998	Try a Little Tenderness/I’m Glad There Is You	Gloria Lynne
1999	Blue ‘N’ Groovy, Vol. 2: Mostly Modal	Various Artists
1999	Incontournables	Coleman Hawkins
2000	Best of the Everest Years	Gloria Lynne
2000	Carmen McRae’s Finest Hour	Carmen McRae
2000	Ken Burns Jazz	Sarah Vaughan
2000	Quincy Jones’ Finest Hour	Quincy Jones
2000	Sarah Vaughan’s Finest Hour	Sarah Vaughan
2001	All Time Greats [Crown Japan]	Sarah Vaughan
2001	Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones	Quincy Jones
2002	Complete Roulette Sarah Vaughan Studio Sessions	Sarah Vaughan
2002	Definitive Sarah Vaughan	Sarah Vaughan
2002	Mercury Songbook	Various Artists
2003	Diva Series	Sarah Vaughan
2003	Jazz in Paris: Vaughan and Violins	Sarah Vaughan
2003	Misty	Sarah Vaughan
2003	Queen of the Organ: Memorial Album	Shirley Scott
2003	Sarah for Lovers	Sarah Vaughan
2003	Swingville Sampler	Various Artists
2004	Best of Coleman Hawkins	Coleman Hawkins
2005	Anthology	Sarah Vaughan
2005	For Lovers: Billie Holiday/Nina Simone/Sarah Vaughan	Various Artists
2005	Great American Songbook	Nancy Wilson
2005	Guess Who I Saw Today: Nancy Wilson Sings Songs of Lo	Nancy Wilson
2005	Jazz in Paris, Vol. 1: Champs-Élysées 1917-1949	Various Artists
2005	Live at Leo’s Casino	Gloria Lynne
2005	Live in New York	The Uptoqn Quintet
2005	NEA Jazz Masters	Sarah Vaughan
2005	Prestige Profiles, Vol. 4	Coleman Hawkins
2005	Save Your Love For Me: Nancy Wilson Sings the Great B	Nancy Wilson
2005	Save Your Love For Me: Nancy Wilson Sings the Great B	Nancy Wilson
2006	Music for Lovers	Horace Silver
2007	Jazz in Paris: 100′s Most Beautiful Melodies	Various Artists
2007	Jazz: Love Songs After Dark	Various Artists
2007	Live in ’58 & ’64 [DVD]	Sarah Vaughan
2007	Playboy Jazz: Jazz Love Songs After Dark	Various Artists
2008	Coffret Jazz in Paris	Various Artists
2009	Shining Hour	The Oster-Welker Jazz Alliance
2010	Live and S’Wonderful	Sarah Vaughan
	It’s About Time	H. Ray Crawford

DR. RONNELL L. BRIGHT with WILL MATTHEWS

Ronnell Bright is one of the most underrated jazz pianists of his generation. His classical background led him to approach the instrument with respect for its fullest potential, while much of his jazz apprenticeship was served with Chicago’s Johnny Pate Trio. Bright’s virtues include an exuberant beat and a supple, pliant conception at medium and up-tempos, with a subtle tenderness in ballads. His playing is full of technical ease, with an expressively pianistic touch, and he can create fascinatingly complete statements when he digs in.

- FRESH SOUND RECORDS

Dr. Ronnell L. Bright will be releasing an enormous amount of previously unissued material on ARC.  The first releases from his extensive catalogue will be a 2-CD set of 18 original compositions performed and recorded by his quartet.

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