Golden-Era Library Funk by Ray Davies

Ray Davies was a household name in library music. He conducted The BBC Radio Orchestra, and 1977’s Contemporary Themes together with British session bass/guitar player John Fiddy was part of the iconic KPM 1000 Greensleeves series—a sought-after run of records sampled by the likes of Madlib, MF DOOM, Prince Paul, The Alchemist, Drake, among others.

Davies composed music together with his own outfits The Button Down Brass and The Serendipity Strings, and the moniker of Ray Davies and His Funky Trumpet. Davies even ended up writing songs for The Rolling Stones, Shirley Bassey, Vince Hill, and 50s icon Burt Bacharach.

Production music publisher Cavendish Music (formerly known as Boosey & Hawkes) released the compilations 60s and 70s Cheese and Fromage à la Funk, respectively, in 1996 and 1998. “Ray Davies was still writing for us up until 2009 and still coming into our office until he died a couple of years ago…,” Cavendish Music producer Arun Sethi told Tracklib a few years ago. “It was incredible to work with someone who was part of those golden years of library music. ‘Espresso Bongo’ is probably my favorite of all his tracks on Tracklib."