Ray Avery (photographer)
Murray "Ray" Bertrand Avery (28 September 1920 – 17 November 2002) was a jazz photographer and jazz record collector. He began collecting jazz recordings as a student at Big Bear Lake High School in Big Bear Lake, California. He owned Ray Avery’s Rare Records in Glendale, California, which became a mecca for jazz record collectors.
After his death, part of his collection, Approximately 63,300 78 rpm, 10-inch sound discs, was sold to the University of California, Los Angeles, Music Library.[1]
His photographs adorn more than one hundred and fifty album covers, and have appeared on over one hundred and twenty-five CDs.[2] His subjects included Art Blakey, Wardell Gray, Thelonious Monk, Chico Hamilton, Billie Holiday, Lord Buckley and Sonny Rollins.