Baron Raymonde and Gil Parris

Baron Raymonde and Gil Parris
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Baron Raymonde, sax
Gil Parris, guitar
Kip Sophos, bass
Thierry Arpino, drums, Ed Bishai, keyboards & vocals

Saxophonist Baron Raymonde has toured with Rod Stewart, The Blues Brothers Band, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, the Broadway show "Ain't Nothing But The Blues" and The Artie Shaw orchestra. He played sax on the closing Today Show Theme "Americas First Family. Baron recorded multiple saxophones and flute on India Aries Grammy winning CD "Voyage To India." He has also appeared on TV shows with GE Smith "The Mark Twain Prize" and "Broadway's Best" and "The Rosie O'Donnell show" with Rod Stewart and American Masters "Women of Tin Pan Alley. Baron currently resides in the NYC area.
Baron has played with the following musicians:
 The Nuff Brothers
 Southside Johnny and The Labamba Big Band
 Little Anthony and The Imperials
 Maxine Brown
 Percy Sledge
 Eric Scortia and Vital Organ
 Tony Orlando
 LaBamba's Big Band
 The John Tropea Band live on WFDU
 Sam Moore
 Pinetop Perkins
 The Duke and The Drivers
 Elvin Bishop
 Luther "Guitar" Johnson, JR.
 Rod Stewart, Human Tour. Featured multi-instrumentalist
 George Benson and Jill Scott
 Art Garfunkel
 Joan Osborne
 Jewel
 Brandy
 Celia Cruz
 Mandy Moore
 The Three Mo' Brothers
 The Bacon Brothers
 Linda Eder
 GE Smith band
 David Johansen -Central Park, NYC
 Toured with Matt 'Guitar' Murphy of Blues Brothers fame
 Jimmy Buffet
 Blues Brothers Band, Europe and Philadelphia
 Hiram Bullock Band in NYC
 Terry King in Las Vegas
 Sister Sledge, July 4th Celebration
 Temptations and Four Tops
 Manhattan Transfer
 Lou Christie, the Coasters and the Drifters at the Beacon Theater, NYC
 Vaganza, Outpost Recording Artists
 Jeff Pevar Band
 Mary Wilson
 Don Rickles
 Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
 Billy Porter with Taylor Dayne at Town Hall, NYC
 Toured with Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon and Fabian
 Lester Chambers and Harvey Brooks Band
 Toured with Artie Shaw Orchestra under the direction of Dick Johnson

Trumpets Jazz Club review from NYBJS - www.nybluesandjazz.org
Trumpets Jazz Club
Montclair, NJ
February 29th, 2004
After our recent Memphis Bound Fundraiser at The Bitter End on January 20th, we at The New York Blues and Jazz Society were looking for a new project. We were so totally impressed with all the talent that had donated their services for this show that we decided to ask Baron Raymonde and Trumpets Jazz Club in Montclair if it would be alright to make Baron's upcoming gig an NYBJS event. The Sax Baron had enlisted two of our favorites: vocalist/piano player, Tommy Mitchell and guitar player, Gil Parris to join him in a Quintet at Trumpets on Sunday, February 29th. I had never been to the club in Montclair and my wife and I were excited about attending.
Trumpets had a packed house and it was only 4:00 PM. Ably assisted by the rhythm section of Kip Sophos, bass and Rich Gonzales, drums the boys did not disappoint us. Baron Raymonde is the finest alto sax player I've heard. He is not satisfied to just play the instrument but squeezes the juices out of the thing. I've often said that I prefer tenor sax to alto but decided now it's only because I never heard Baron Raymonde. Gil Parris is also a "tonemaster" on the guitar and Tommy's voice was in fine form. Also joined by the Italian violin virtuoso, Vitali, they performed Tommy Mitchell's "Bittersweet" and "C Smooth" by George Benson. Then Tommy sang "A Song for You" by Leon Russell. The Band played the Baron Raymonde/Gary Eskow penned "Back in the Day" and the classic "Ode to Billy Joe." Then Gil played "Duck Walk" a tune he wrote off of his latest cd "Jam this." They continued with the Ray Charles classic "Georgia", Horace Silver's "Sister Sadie" and The Doobie Brother's "Taking It to The Streets." They also performed Stevie Wonder's "I Am Singing."
Everyone at Trumpets had a great time and I for one am looking forward to seeing these guys together again. Baron Raymonde is also a member of "The Tommy Mitchell Band" and involved with many music projects.
Richard Ludmerer
ricdale2@yahoo.com