Ray Warleigh
Versatile jazz saxophonist who played with Humphrey Lyttelton, Ronnie Scott and Stevie Wonder
RAY WARLEIGH, who has died aged 76, was a saxophonist and flautist who combined impeccable technique with astonishing versatility of style; not only did he sound at home in virtually any form of jazz, but as a freelance musician he also distinguished himself in many fields of music, from the most popular to the experimental avant garde.
Raymond Kenneth Warleigh was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on September 28 1938. He began playing the flute at the age of 10 and a few years later added the clarinet, which he played in the Police Board Boys’ Club band. In his late teens he took up the alto saxophone, after being impressed by Paul Desmond’s playing on records by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. He served an apprenticeship as an electrician, but soon afterwards took a job in the band at a Sydney dance hall. From that moment, music became his profession.
Warleigh came to Britain in 1960, first joining Ken Scott’s dance band in Aberdeen. After playing in a variety of bands in resorts and holiday camps, he became a member of Eric Delaney’s show-band, followed by a period touring US air bases in Britain and Europe, a familiar experience among most young musicians at time.
By 1964 Warleigh’s technique and flair was widely known and he had become absorbed into the London jazz scene. Everyone was impressed by his extraordinary stylistic breadth. Jazz contains a multitude of styles, often wildly contrasting, yet they all seemed to come quite naturally to him. From Humphrey Lyttelton to Ronnie Scott, Alexis Korner to the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, whatever the company, he not only fitted into it but shone. His sound was commanding yet warm, described by one critic as “resplendent”, and there was always a firm melodic core to his improvised line.
It was the same with his studio work. Across the range of blues styles, from Champion Jack Dupree to Georgie Fame, it took only a few notes from Ray Warleigh to provide the perfect embellishment. Among the popular artists with whom he recorded were Dusty Springfield, Stevie Wonder, Nick Drake, Marianne Faithfull and Scott Walker.
It was Walker who, in 1968, produced Warleigh’s first solo album, confidently titled Ray Warleigh’s First Album. Its content was split between jazz, in which he was accompanied by a small band, and “easy listening”, with an orchestra. As a sample of his wideranging talents it was impressive, but it fell between two audiences and failed to catch on.
It may, indeed, have been those very talents which prevented him from becoming better known to the public in jazz or any other field. Among his peers, however, he remained a celebrity, and playing jazz was always the most important part of his musical life. In the 1970s he played with the bands of Mike Westbrook, Tommy Chase and Kenny Wheeler, among others, recording a second album of his own, Reverie, in 1977, and another in the same year as co-leader with Tommy Chase. In 1976, he was briefly a member of the progressive rock band, Soft Machine.
It was typical of Warleigh that, in the midst of all this activity, he played regularly in the Latin-fusion band, Paz, at its Sunday-night residency at The Kensington, a pub in Holland Park. He remained a member of Paz from 1973 to 1981, appearing at festivals and recording several albums with the band.
In 1981, Warleigh moved to Germany, where he joined the orchestra of the radio station Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne. This provided the opportunity to play with a series of great jazz figures who appeared as guests with the band, including Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach and many others.
Back in Britain, he was a member of the gargantuan, 33-piece orchestra formed in 1985 by the Rolling Stones’ jazz-loving drummer, Charlie Watts. He also formed a close association with the trumpeter and composer, Kenny Wheeler. He plays a prominent part on Wheeler’s critically acclaimed 1990 album, Music for Small and Large Ensembles. Warleigh’s final album, Rue Victor Massé (2009), is a live duet recording, largely abstract in form, with the drummer Tony Marsh.
He continued playing until declining health forced him to retire.
Ray Warleigh’s marriage ended in divorce. A son predeceased him.