Ray Draper - Definition and Overview

Raymond Allen Draper (1940–1982) was an American hard bop tuba player.

After attending the Manhattan School of Music in the mid-1950s, he played or recorded through the early 1970s with Jackie McLean, Donald Byrd, John Coltrane, Max Roach, Don Cherry, Horace Tapscott, Archie Shepp, Brother Jack McDuff, Dr. John and Howard Johnson. He also recorded as a leader in the late 1950s.

Draper's drug addiction seriously disrupted his career in the late 1950s. At the time of his death in a robbery he was performing only rarely.