Ray Obiedo is the anti-Zelig of the Bay Area music scene.
Let me explain. Unlike Woody Allen’s titular character, who materializes in the midst of one iconic historical moment after another in the 1983 mocumentary, Obiedo has a five-decade track record of turning up in the thick of creative ferment. Rather than fading into the background, the guitarist, composer, arranger and producer is often the straw stirring the drink.
North Bay vocalist and songwriter Chloé Jean is the latest tall, cool drink of water inspired by Obiedo. A former model for New York’s Ford agency, she’s been reintroducing herself to the Bay Area music scene since the release last year of “Fairy Tale Fail,” an impressive session toggling between her R&B inflected originals and her simmering soul interpretations of standards like “Cry me a River” and “Blue Skies.”
Jean performs with the Ray Obiedo Group on a series of performances this month, including Aug. 17 at the Sound Room in Oakland, Aug. 23-24 at Keys Jazz Bistro in North Beach, and Aug. 29 at Santa Cruz’s Kuumbwa Jazz Center.
Obiedo credits veteran Vallejo music impresario Jeff Trager with tipping him off about Jean, who he’d heard sitting in at open mic sessions at Sausalito’s No Name Bar. “I looked at some of her videos of duos and little gigs and I thought, ‘She sounds good!” he recalled.
When they got together to chat, Obiedo said he’d like to produce an album that recast her in a small group jazz setting “as more of a very sophisticated R&B singer, like Indie.Aire, neo-soul if you will. We did the Billie Eilish cover of ‘Bad Guy’ but it was ‘Cry Me a River’ that went to No. 11 on the JazzWeek radio chart. For a first release that’s pretty amazing.”
Raised in Sacramento, Jean grew up fascinated by music and interested in writing songs. Something of a jock, she ran track at UC Berkeley, and sang in the university’s gospel choir, “one of my favorite experiences in college,” she said.
She also started working as a backup singer “and eventually became lead singer in wedding bands and top 40 groups,” she said. “I knew that wasn’t it for me either. I really enjoy writing my own songs.”
Bay Area singer Chloe Jean jump-started her music career with the 2023 release of the album “Fair Tale Fail.” Courtesy of Chloe Jean
At the same time, she was scouted by a modeling agency and spent years working photo shoots and runways, often for athletic wear. Music moved firmly to the back burner in her late 20s when she had two kids.
A diagnosis of breast cancer in 2016, which reoccurred in 2020, further sidelined her musical ambitions, until the connection with Obiedo last year “when I came back to music and got to do what I love,” she said.
Obiedo has surrounded her with top-shelf jazz players like pianist Peter Horvath and bassist Dan Feiszli, while turning her onto old school masters like Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett and online maestros like Jacob Collier.
She’s absorbing the new sounds like her “heart is still in R&B and funk, Mary J. Blige and Jill Scott and Lauryn Hill,” she said. “I think the reason these jazz guys like working with me is that I’m not strictly jazz. It comes out a little different.”
It’s no wonder Obiedo was drawn to Jean’s sound, as he’s always found inspiration in a wide spectrum of sounds and styles. The Richmond native has played Latin jazz with Pete Escovedo, soul jazz with Johnny “Hammond” Smith, and experimental post-bop with trombone great Julian Priester.
He was up to his elbows in East Bay grease with Headhunters percussionist Bill Summers and served as a musical muse to women’s music pioneers Holly Near, Teresa Trull, and Linda Tillery, whom he’ll join at Freight & Salvage Sept. 1 with the East Bay Allstars to celebrate her 76th birthday.
He just released a new album of his own, “Twist,” a typically far-flung affair with grooves ranging from Brazil to the Caribbean. He features Jean’s vocals on several tracks, as well as longtime collaborators Michelle Hawkins, Lilan Kane, Leah Tysse, Sandy Cressman and Sheila E.
Covering so much musical ground has made it difficult for some critics to pin Obiedo down. But among the closest observers, his manifest contributions have been unavoidable.
“He should be in the Bay Area hall of fame,” said Kuumbwa Artistic Director Tim Jackson, who in his final season running the Monterey Jazz Festival made a point of booking Obiedo’s Latin jazz project. “He’s played in every genre, and makes every musical situation better.”
RAY OBIEDO GROUP
Performing with vocalist Chloe Jean
When & where: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 17 at the Sound Room, Oakland; $30; www.soundroom.org; 7 and 9 p.m. Aug. 23-24 at Keys Jazz Bistro, San Francisco; $35; keysjazzbistro.com; 7 p.m. Aug. 29 at Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Santa Cruz; $18.50-$36.75; www.kuumbwajazz.org
