Saw him last night play in front of about 50 thousand people here at Montreal Jazz Fest.  I know a lot of folks here are pretty fond of Ray, and he's getting great reviews after a recent tour of UK.

My impression is that he has a very strong soulful voice, but extremely limited musical ideas, and OK, but not earth shattering songwriting.  The word boring kept coming into mind after a few songs of his set.  He played with a very good acoustic bassist and drummer.  And...the guy has the personality of a floor tile.  Barely whispered a shy, "thank-you", between every third song, and rarely spoke to the audience except when he introduced the band.   No showmansip skills.  Now c'mon Ray, it was a beautiful summer eve, and you had 50+ thousand people listenin' brother...!!

Well, later I saw Odeon Pope Saxophone Choir,and they blew my mind.   Odeon led the band, but soloed frequently, and I can't believe I've lived this long and not been more familiar with his music.  He can play like Coltrane, I'm not kidding, and beyond. 

g