Born in 1969 in Tucson, Arizona. Ray began studying music at the age of eight in which his first instruments were of percussion. At the age of fifteen, Ray began to take classical guitar lessons at the University of Arizona, where he later continued his undergraduate studies, under the tutelage of Thomas Patterson. During high school he won his first classical guitar competition, The William Mullaney Guitar Competition and then continued with the ASTA Competition for Strings. In his sophomore year at the University of Arizona he won the Eugene Leonard Schaffer Classical Guitar Competition. After completing his degree at the University of Arizona he continued his studies at The California Institute of the Arts where he studied 20th Century Music, World Music, and Jazz Improvisation.
While attending California Institute of the Arts, Ray studied with faculty members such as Larry Koonse, Stuart Fox, and Miroslav Tadic. After graduating from the California Institute of the Arts, Ray began composing for theater with works such as Iago, One Gun Family, and Boda De Sangre, which led him to be the Music Director for Theatre at Plaza De La Raza School of Performing Arts for the last five years. In addition, in 1995 he started a group called Indigenous Colors which incorporated jazz improvisation, hip hop and funk. In 1997 he released a duo recording entitled Journey, documenting the last three years of collaboration with guitarist Joe LoPiccolo. In 1998 he performed solo concerts in Chicago, Los Angeles and throughout Mexico. And in the beginning of 1999 he joined the group Quetzal which draws influences from latin, soul, hip hop and folklore music to create a unique blend of political conscious lyrics and infinite groove. Ray is on the faculty at The Old Town Conservatory of Music in Pasadena, California and at Plaza De La Raza in East Los Angeles. Recently, Ray completed A La Naturaleza - the debut solo CD which features an all acoustic ensemble of bass, drums, world percussion, piano and guitar and entails the last two years of his personal composition and arrangement with influences of latin, jazz, classical and world music.
CHECK IT OUT!
Here are a couple of his songs in "Real" audio
NOTE:All images and music on this page are the soul property of "Ray Sandoval"
