Carline Ray, the esteemed guest on November 17, 2005, discussed her wide-ranging career as a singer and multi-instrumentalist. Born in Harlem in 1925, she grew up close to the Savoy Ballroom. Her father had played tuba with James Reese Europe and served as a model; early on she picked up the guitar and violin and taught herself how to play. After attending Wadleigh High School in Harlem, she attended Juilliard during World War II. She also discussed her time at the Manhattan School of Music, where she earned a Master Degree’s in Voice. She fondly recalled studying there under Coleridge Taylor Perkins.

Ms. Ray told many anecdotes about serving as the band vocalist for Erskine Hawkins for a year during her late teens as well as her time with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. She also discussed why she began to play the bass: after hearing Ray Brown. “I said to myself, ‘If I played the bass, that’s how I’d like to play. He could sure pull those strings!” Her marriage to Luis Russell (and daughter Cathy, born in 1956), performances with Mary Lou Williams and Alvin Ailey’s dance troupe, work for the play Purlie, teaching duties at the New School, and union work, were also discussed by Ms. Ray with strong voice and ebullient smile. “I’m still learning. Now that I’m 80, I’m really starting to enjoy myself!”