RIP Ray Shulman.

[theplumber]

Just heard that bass player from Gentle Giant,Ray Shulman has passed away. I have recently just started to listen to Gentle Giant. It's funny how some bands pass you by. But if you get a chance check out Gentle Giant. Ray was a brilliant all round musician as well as a fantastic bass player.

[Steve Browning]

Local lad. The Shulman family hail from Pompey. 

Edited April 1, 2023 by Steve Browning

[White Cloud]

So sad to hear this, Gentle Giant are prog legends and Ray was a wonderful musician 😢

[wateroftyne]

Amazing player. What a guy. 😞

[naxos10]

Sad to hear this one of my favourite bands. Rest in peace Ray.

[Alba]

Sad news. A great bass player and one of my favourite bands.

[wateroftyne]

Absolutely monster musician.

 

 

[BassTractor]

Personal, telling little about Ray:

In the beginning, to me personally, Ray first and foremost was a great composer, then one of the people who provided the bridge I needed between my childhood's classical music and rock and jazz music. 
Much later I realised that he also was a bass monster.

Gentle Giant's music has been central in my life for nearly 50 years, and the band's tightly knit group of fans and friends for nearly 30. We started meeting up in the mid 90s, later alternating between continents, and eventually band members joined and would become highly respected friends  - not objects of adoration.
Two decades ago, also Ray wanted to join, but his health prevented him. 

The news of his death hit me harder than imagined, and harder than similar deaths have done previously.



Non-personal:
Some of you may know that Ray and his then girlfriend are behind the smart lettering on the front cover of "Civilian", where the album's title is visible in red within the words "Gentle Giant" in yellow.
This showed yet another side of Ray's ingeniousness (and it took many fans years or decades to discover this bit).



A man has gone.
Requiescat in pace.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by BassTractor

[theplumber]

1 minute ago, BassTractor said:

Personal, telling little about Ray:

In the beginning, to me personally, Ray first and foremost was a great composer, then one of the people who provided the bridge I needed between my childhood's classical music and rock and jazz music. 
Much later I realised that he also was a bass monster.

Gentle Giant's music has been central in my life for 50 years, and the band's tightly knit group of fans and friends for nearly 30. We started meeting up in the mid 90s, alternating between continents, and eventually band members joined and would become friends more than objects of adoration.
Two decades ago, also Ray wanted to join, but his health prevented him. 

The news of his death hit me harder than imagined, and harder than similar deaths have done previously.



Non-personal:
Some of you may know that Ray and his then girlfriend are behind the ingenious lettering on the front cover of "Civilian", where the album's title is visible in red within the words "Gentle Giant" in yellow.
This showed yet another side of Ray's ingeniousness (and it took many fans years or decades to discover this bit).



A man has gone.
Requiescat in pace.

 

Very nice words! As mentioned I have only discovered the music of Gentle Giant in the last few months! Heard the name over the years and never bothered to check them out. To be honest I wouldn't have been able to take it all in! But in my opinion they are up there with the greats!! Check them out if you can! RIP Ray. What a player indeed!

[Beedster]

1 hour ago, wateroftyne said:

Absolutely monster musician.

 

 

 

Pretty impressive stuff, I'd never come across them, but I'm going to listen to them today. RIP Ray  

[BassTractor]

2 hours ago, theplumber said:

To be honest I wouldn't have been able to take it all in! 

When the Shulman brothers disbanded Simon Dupree and the Big Sound to form Gentle Giant, I somehow didn't catch up despite liking SD&tBS, and despite looking forward to the announced project, which was worded much like the later liner notes of Acquiring the Taste (in short they were gonna change the face of pop music  -  -  "Pretentious - for the sake of it!" as they'd later say).

Much later, when The Power and the Glory had just been released, I listened to the first few tracks of that and Octopus, and told the shop lady: "Just sell me Octopus; the other one is way above me head".
Later that same day I'd regained trust in my brain, and went back to the shop to buy it anyway. 

I'll try and re-tell Ray's account of the story about how Elton John didn't become a member of Gentle Giant, but not today.
The story was online, but didn't follow the rest during a site move. I guess you haven't seen it.

Edited April 2, 2023 by BassTractor

[BassTractor]

8 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

Pretty impressive stuff, I'd never come across them, but I'm going to listen to them today. RIP Ray  

The stuff as presented in that vid is, I believe, well-represented in their middle period - say albums from Octopus to Free Hand or Interview, so you might wish to start there.
 

[wateroftyne]

19 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

Pretty impressive stuff, I'd never come across them, but I'm going to listen to them today. RIP Ray  

Prepare to have your head melted. Well worth the effort, though.

 

The band’s musical evolution over the 10 years they existed is remarkable.

Edited April 2, 2023 by wateroftyne

[StickyDBRmf]

On 02/04/2023 at 06:43, wateroftyne said:

Prepare to have your head melted. Well worth the effort, though.

 

The band’s musical evolution over the 10 years they existed is remarkable.

Every player on BassChat no matter what type of music you play. Go right now and check out Gentile Giant. Ray and the band are some of the most articulate and happy music ever played. Brain melting indeed.