in this blog i want to portray don-ray, a musician, dj and producer from montreal, canada. he has a popular podcast with cool new nu-jazz tracks. here is a summary of an interview i did last week:

Q: short biographie?

A: I am the silent producer behind the likes of Lady Alma, Replife, and Deborah Jordan as well as the abstract re-funker for Fertile Ground’s “Come 2 me”. I have produced for labels such as Sony, Guidance, Gotsoul, Futuristica, and Recordbreakin, and taken them to the next level with my neo-soul and future-funk productions. I also runs a small label of my own, All Massive Productions, putting out a few trax in the between time. My last album was lauded as one of the best of 2005 under extremely limited pressing and i am back in the studio working on my latest and greatest. Always keen on nu-sounds and eclectic vibes, my  trax should be a nice addition to any music lover’s collection. myspace site

Q: how did you step over nu-jazz?

A: My love for Nu-jazz music was by mistake really. I was detailing drum & bass music and decided to slow things down a bit. I was trying to get a little more soul into my groove. It turned out to be a new type of vibe I hadn’t heard before. The track was called The “French Connection” and was produced in the late 90′s. Today, I believe Nu-jazz is more a journey than a genre so looking back I would say it was my first personally journey into Nu-jazz. (the track can be found here for a limited time: Marauder Music – French Connection – By Maxelle Promo (Don-Ray and Stach) Re-Release from 2000)

Q: your definition of nu-jazz?

A: I have a difficult time defining the term Nu-jazz. For me it’s really more about a feeling one gets from the music than anything. I believe the tracks I DJ and produce define it better than I ever could =)

Q: you have a very popular podcast. how do you select artists and trax for your podcastmix?

A: The podcast blog with tracklistings can be found here: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendId=52212677

I don’t have any favorites at he moment, however, I have worked with a few artists that I would recommend. The first is Replife, “The Unclosed Mind”, where I’m throwing down tracks with the likes of Dego (4Hero), Kaidi Tatham (Bugz), Arch-Type, Kenetik, and more. The other is Deborah Jordan (4hero, Silhouette Brown, Bugs In The Attic), “The Light” album, where you can find productions from Jneiro Jarel, Simbad and myself.

Q: your advice for artists and producers in nu-jazz?

A: If it were not for the community of producers, artists, music lovers, DJ’s, promoters and whatnot worldwide, we wouldn’t have such strong recognition. More and more of us are interconnected through online networks so we should think globally and act globally as well (not just locally). Produce, remix, share, perform, and promote music that encompasses nu-jazz traits worldwide. Take advantage of the information age.

More information about don-ray can be found at the following address:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Don-Ray/16634735365
www.allmassive.com
Don-Ray
www.myspace.com/allmassive
www.giantstep.net/jukebox