New Doug Raney: 'Never Say Yes' (1986)

One of my favorite jazz guitarists is Doug Raney, the son of guitar legend Jimmy Raney, who moved to Cophenhagen, Denmark, when he was just 21. Doug Raney spent much of his career there touring and recording. Long suffering from drug and alcohol addiction, he died in 2016 of heart failure at age 59.

Raney’s playing is wonderfully tasteful, swinging, gracefully taut and artful. His fingers are always in the right spots and his ability to improvise at a high level for lengthy periods was remarkable.

Out today from Denmark’s Storyville / Exlibris Records is Never Say Yes, an album of previously unreleased material recorded on January 9, 1986. The record features Doug Raney (g), Ben Besiakov (p), Jesper Lundgaard (b) and Jukkis Uotila (d) playing Never Say Yes, Softly as in a Morning Sunrise, I’m Old Fashioned, I Hear a Rhapsody, Giant Steps, All of Nothing at All and Get Out of Town.

Recorded in Studio 3 at the Danish Broadcasting Corp. in Copenhagen, Never Say Yes zips along with daring and excitement, and the sound is excellent.

In the liner notes, Lundgaard writes, “[Doug] had an incredibly refined technique on the guitar, I’d almost call it organically innate. His playing felt like an extension of his personality, effortless, and yet grounded in a deep understanding of jazz’s inner architecture, which is so difficult to truly master. Doug had a special ability to voice chords, and in my opinion, there was a beauty in his soloing that only very few possess.”

I couldn’t agree more.

To buy Doug Raney’s Never Say Yes, go here.

Here’s the title track…

And here’s Giant Steps…