No one loved Milwaukee's jazz scene as much as Augie Ray
Augie Ray's Facebook page was rarely about Augie Ray.
Always up on the latest technology — he once waited overnight at a Radio Shack to buy the first handheld calculator on the market — Ray in recent years used social media and his smartphone to passionately promote his favorite thing: the Milwaukee jazz scene.
Making sure to spell musicians' names correctly and to tag them and venues in his posts, Ray became a documentarian of sorts for the local jazz scene, flooding his Facebook page with photos and videos from gigs, and imploring people to come out before the music would end.
"Augie was Milwaukee's No. 1 jazz fan, and I think if you ask any musician who was the No. 1 fan, I can't imagine Augie not coming to everyone's minds first and foremost," said Mark Davis, a seasoned jazz pianist and artistic director of the nonprofit Milwaukee Jazz Institute. "He would sometimes go to 3, 4, 5 places in a night, making the rounds at all the jazz venues."
"I must have seen Augie several times a week for the last couple of decades," Davis continued. "We all felt close to him. He was family."
August ("Augie") J. Ray died May 28 at the age of 84. And while his eldest son, August ("Augie") F. Ray, knew his father was beloved in the Milwaukee jazz scene, the flood of tributes on Facebook has been awe-inspiring.
It was the jazz scene's turn to honor their biggest supporter, and not just the Milwaukee-based venues and musicians Ray championed. Condolences have come in from jazz guitarist Peter Bernstein, Milwaukee-born Grammy winner Brian Lynch, and Milwaukee-born, New York-based Angie Swan, David Byrne's guitarist for his Broadway show "American Utopia."
"The outpouring of support on Facebook has helped his family adjust to all of this," August F. Ray said. "He was a vibrant, connected 84-year-old. I keep reminding myself anytime I am inclined to be sad we should be so lucky to be like that well into our 80s."
'A little bit of a workaholic'
August F. Ray remembers, when he was growing up in Greendale, his dad loving jazz, and his father ultimately influenced his oldest son to book jazz shows at Milwaukee hotels for a time.
But in his 30s through his 50s, August F. Ray said his father, and his mother Anne, didn't like to go out much, and that his father "was a little bit of a workaholic." Coming into his professional career as a technical writer, Ray worked for decades in industrial marketing and advertising in the area for Delco Electronics-GMC, Louis Allis, and Enercon Industries.
"Living in the suburbs for some time, my mother was a little worried dad would become a hermit," August F. Ray admitted.
Anne died in 2000 at 59, and after a couple of years adjusting to the "tragic" end to their "wonderful marriage," Ray left Franklin, where he had been living, and moved to downtown Milwaukee. He also retired earlier than anyone in the family had expected.
"He wanted to get reconnected to the city he grew up, in the Italian part of Brady Street," August F. Ray said. "At the time, it sort of caught me by surprise. In retrospect, the thing that I admire the most about my dad was the way he adjusted to his circumstances and made the most of everything.
"His dad died early in his life, and he grew up one of five kids of a single mother who worked cleaning houses, and they were very poor, but they made the most of it," August F. Ray continued. "He joined the military and got out and got a college education. He met my mother he jokingly said was born on the other side of the tracks and made the most of that. He was a family man and committed to his career and made the most of that."
"In every stage of life, my dad assessed where he was and how to stay engaged. In retrospect, it was the story of his life."
An eclectic jazz fan
And for the last 20 years of his life, Augie Ray became a fixture of the Milwaukee jazz scene.
"He really got excited to see that it was still vibrant in his community, and was also fascinated by what jazz was," August F. Ray said. "He would embrace all sorts of things, like rapping over jazz and acid jazz. And not just jazz, but opera and classical music. He really loved live music."
In that time, Ray watched the local jazz scene grow, with more venues in the city than he had seen since the '80s, as he suggested in a Journal Sentinel story in 2017. Davis believes Ray contributed to that growth.
"Sometimes a city like Milwaukee, we don't get the attention that a bigger city would receive, and some of the great things can go unnoticed," Davis said. "With all of (Ray's) daily postings on social media, I think people became much more aware of what was going on here in Milwaukee. … The musicians truly appreciated that."
Beyond going to shows and promoting local jazz on Facebook, Ray directly helped local musicians. He never promoted it on his Facebook page, but Ray throughout the years would pay for trips for young jazz musicians to go to New York City to perform in national competitions, Davis said.
"He recognized the sophistication of the music, and he recognized the commitment the musicians put into their art and craft," Davis said. "He had his favorite players and styles, but he was very open-minded about different styles of music and different styles of jazz. It's just a sign of an intelligent guy with an inquisitive mind who was interested in always learning more."
While the COVID-19 pandemic robbed Ray of his chance to see local live music for more than a year, he managed to check out Milwaukee's latest live music venue, Sam's Place Jazz Cafe, after it opened in March. And Ray was a sponsor for the Milwaukee Jazz Institute's International Jazz Day concert April 30, Davis said. As usual, he sat in the front row.
"In his last week, he spoke about how people at the clubs would offer him free drinks and no cover charge, and he never accepted," August F. Ray said. "His point of being there was to make it financially viable. … To be a jazz lover did not mean you listen to recordings made by people 50 years ago. It meant you showed up, and you supported jazz as a living art form."
Ray is preceded in death by his wife Anne and daughter Linda, and survived by his sons August and David; his grandchildren Shane, Brittany and Alyssa; their partners; and six great grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Feerick Funeral Home, 2025 E. Capitol Drive, with a reception to follow. The service will also be livestreamed, with a link available at feerickfuneralhome.com.
In lieu of flowers, Ray requested that donations be made to the Milwaukee Jazz Institute, the West End Conservatory, Jazz Unlimited of Greater Milwaukee or Milwaukee PBS. And there will be live jazz at Sunday's service, with Davis, trumpet player Eric Jacobson, bassist Jeff Hamann and drummer Dave Bayles performing some of Ray's favorite songs.
Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.
Piet also talks concerts, local music and more on "TAP'd In" with Evan Rytlewski. Hear it at 8 a.m. Thursdays on WYMS-FM (88.9), or wherever you get your podcasts.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: No one loved Milwaukee's jazz scene as much as Augie Ray
