The Ray Russell Quartet is the jazz fusion group formed by British guitarist Ray Russell. Born in London on April 4, 1947, Russell began his career with the John Barry Seven. He played on several James Bond soundtracks, accompanied Georgie Fame and joined Chris Spedding in Mike Gibbs' band, before pursuing his own career as a leader. In 1968, he signed with the CBS label and formed a quartet with Roy Fry (piano), Ron Matthewson (double bass) and Alan Rushton (drums), for the recording of the album Turn Circle, joined by Lyn Dobson (tenor sax), Harry Beckett and Bud Parks (trumpet). The same quartet continued with Dragon Hill (1969), while Dave Holland replaced Matthewson on the tour that followed the sessions. Ray Russell then changed partners for subsequent recordings released under his own name. Previously unreleased tapes of concerts between May 1967 and January 1969 surfaced in 2020 on the Jazz in Britain label, which released the vinyl album Spontaneous Event: Live Vol. 1.
