Danny "Big Black" Rey

Danny "Big Black" Rey (born Daniel Ray in 1934 in Savannah, Georgia) is an American actor, musician, percussionist specializing Latin und Ethnic Jazz music.

Early life and career
Rey got its nickname "Big Black" from an older brother because of his interest in drums. After he during his high school years on the radio the conga in the Cuban music had heard he was interested in the instrument and traveled to Florida and the Bahamas, where he spent five years. There he played with Lord Fleas Calypso band met at Fish Ray and Johnny "Slick" Engraham and looked at Calypso Eddy Trio with Sam and Role with. In Miami, he worked at Jack Contanzo, Moe Koffman and the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, before he formed a band with trumpeter Billy Cook and found a private access to the fusion of Caribbean and Jazzrhytmen.

In the early 1960s, he moved to New York City, where he worked in the bands of Freddie Hubbard (Night of the Cookers) and Randy Weston and also played with the likes of musicans Ray Bryant, Johnny Barracuda, Junior Cook and Eric Dolphy was heard. In 1965 he was in the Caribbean Pavilion of World Expo presented, in the same year he performed with Dizzy Gillespie at the Newport Jazz Festival. He got a record deal and put four of his own albums prior to 1972, where he partially pushed forward in the area of ​​African rhythms. He was also a member of the Butterfield Blues Band. It was later he also worked as an actor of supporting roles in TV shows and films. Next he played with blues musicians Sun Ra and B.B. King, but also took with Charles Tolliver , and played music during the World Cup campaign of Muhammad Ali in 1974. In the 1990s, he was the musical director of several projects by Randy Weston.

Acting career
Over the years, beginning in the early 1970's Rey appeared in numerous bit roles in television and film, appearing on the TV series Sanford and Son, and the short-lived 1970's CBS-TV series Apple's Way', Rey also had roles in such films as Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Blazing Saddles (1974, in an uncredited part as Bart's father), The Pilot (1980), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), and, most recently, The Minus in 1999.