The Eric Byrd Trio Brother Ray

The Eric Byrd Trio performs with other musicians on their newest album, Brother Ray. The CD is “a tribute to the jazz side of Ray Charles,” as it says on the trio’s MySpace page. Most of the 11 tracks on the album may be unfamiliar to those who know Ray Charles’s music from, say, the 2004 biopic, Ray, starring Jamie Foxx. The opening track, “Let the Good Times Roll,” and the closer, “You Don’t Know Me,” are the only two titles on Brother Ray that are also on the movie’s CD soundtrack. Byrd has a sensible reason for this: “You can’t beat Ray at Ray, so I had no interest in doing some second class version of ‘What’d I Say’ or ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You.’” Byrd, who calls Charles “the person that inspired me to play the piano in the first place,” plays piano throughout the album and sings on nearly every track. Besides the other two members of The Eric Byrd Trio, Alphonso Young, Jr., on drums and Bhagwan Khalsa on bass, Byrd is accompanied on some tracks by a four-piece horn section consisting of Brad Clements on trumpet, Paul Carr on tenor sax, Lyle Link on alto sax and Chris Waiting on baritone sax. Byrd wrote the album’s horn arrangements, and on “Let the Good Times Roll,” he calls out to the members of the horn section, letting each player display their skills in a solo. When he sings or speaks with Lea Gilmore on “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and “Watch Them Dogs,” the two vocalists banter back-and-forth with a comfortable ease. Byrd may not be able to “beat” Charles at his own game, but Byrd’s silky smooth vocals, especially on “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home” and “You Don’t Know Me,” stand on their own merits. Guitarist Frank McCreary also plays on one track.