Today we are proud to be highlighting something a tad different from the usual: an instrumental Midwest Funk-Jazz album penned by Cincinnati’s own Ray’s Music Exchange. Out now, ‘A Live Family Rayunion 2025’ also comes in a physical format, with a limited edition bespoke 180-gram vinyl shipping alongside a limited run of 300 hand-numbered, hand-stamped jackets with concert photography by Rob O’Brien.
As we dive into the album, we are instantly drawn into an intensely groovy and syncopated world. Wonky bass lines and a stuttering horn section mark some of the LP’s main features, a funk-jazz underworld that feels malleable and hypnotic, yet always clean and kinetic. Alongside six like-minded tracks, the record traces an instrumental journey that’s rather eclectic and daring, but also sort of familiar, with jazz solos making their way in between the funk themes and the modern resolutions.
The record sees the group’s core lineup reuniting once again: Brad Myers (guitar), Michael Mavridoglou (trumpet), Nick Blasky (bass), Matthew Hawkins (percussion), and Jason Smart (drums) lead the creative charge, together with a series of special guests from Ernie Johnson from Detroit, a Cincinnati-based Afrobeat funk outfit. Such sublime musicianship was captured at the local historic Woodward Theater by Nicholas Radina, with mixing and mastering done by Ashley Shepherd at Audiogrotto.
Recommended! Discover ‘A Live Family Rayunion 2025’ now: