Ray Zepeda - 'Step by Step': Recent Episodes
Manu Martinez
A veteran of the Los Angeles jazz, reggae, punk, pop, and house DJ scene, Zepeda has performed/recorded with Lou Rawls, Russ Ferrante (Yellowjackets), John Patitucci (Chick Corea), Joe La Barbera (Bill Evans Trio), Barbara Morrison, Thelma Jones, Carl Saunders (Stan Kenton/ Bill Holman), Dave Tull (Chuck Mangione/ Michael Buble), Lanny Morgan (Supersax/ Natalie Cole), Mike Bennett (Hillary Duff, Kenny G, JC Chasez), Darek Oles (Dianne Reeves, Brad Mehldau), Johnny Blas (CuBop Records), and DJs Mikie Smithers, Jim Carson, Serafin, and many others. Since beginning his professional career playing lead alto in various big bands at the age of 15, his musical palette has expanded to include everything from serious composition to avant-garde jazz to contemporary pop to punk rock. Mr. Zepeda holds the Master of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of Southern California where he studied with saxophonist, Bob Sheppard (Steely Dan, Chick Corea, Mike Stern), and the Bachelor of Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he studied Composition with Pulitzer Prize and MacArthur Grant-winning composer, John Harbison.
“You might as well get ready to hear the name Ray Zepeda quite a lot in jazz circles during the coming years. Here’s an emerging player with a solid musical education and a substantial grounding in the jazz book. Zepeda strikes me as one of those prodigy types who probably blew everyone away in his high school and college stage bands. And he continues doing so on this energetic outing. Based in Los Angeles, Zepeda cooks it up with three LA area monsters, Rich Eames, piano, Darek Oles, bass, and Joe LaBarbera, drums. The session gets underway with a straight forward reading of ‘Stella By Starlight’ and continues with ‘Step By Step,’ a Zepeda original which bears a cousinly musical relationship to John Coltrane’s mega-hit, ‘Giant Steps.’ …Billy [Childs’s] tune called ‘Midland.’ [is] a feature for soprano sax, and Zepeda makes it a dramatic ride. ‘You Haven’t Changed’ is a warm 3/4 time Zepeda original, and it’s charming melody line features pianist Rich Eames. The set concludes with the rarely heard Frank Loesser opus, ‘Never Will I Marry,’ played with a subtle backbeat. …Zepeda is off and running. Keep an eye on him…”
– George Fendel, Jazz Society of Oregon