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Bassist
Brown was a legend with a big
heart
By
Bill Wimmer
Ray Brown,
one of the true legends of jazz, died in
his sleep July 3, ending one of the
greatest and lengthiest careers in music.
He was 76. Brown's role in the history of
jazz bass has no living comparison as far
as variety, quality and consistency of his
playing throughout his life. He would have
been viewed as a great historical figure
for any one phase or time period in his
life, but his quest to grow and stay fresh
in the music kept him a vital part of it
for over half a century.
Raymond
Mather Brown was born in Pittsburgh on
Oct., 1926, and was encouraged to pursue
piano by his father, who had hopes of him
being the next Fats Waller or Art Tatum.
Ray was frustrated by the piano and the
number of pianists at school, so he turned
to the bass when his father couldn't
afford a trombone. By the time he was out
of high school, Brown was ready to hit the
road. He first toured with Jimmy Hinsley's
band, and then with Snookum Russel's
group, just after the departure of
trumpeter Fats Navarro and trombonist J.J.
Johnson. After eight months with the
group, at age 19, Brown decided to go to
New York. On Brown's first night in New
York, he went down to 52nd Street and saw
many of the greatest players in jazz for
the first time. When Ray asked his friend,
pianist Hank Jones, to introduce him to
Dizzy Gillespie, he asked Brown if he
wanted a gig and if he could make a
rehearsal the next morning at 7. When he
arrived at rehearsal, he was shocked to
find himself surrounded by Dizzy, Charlie
Parker, Bud Powell and Max Roach! Brown
went on to play with Gillespie and, later,
his big band.
In 1946,
Brown began an association with Norman
Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic groups,
often backing singer Ella
Fitzgerald. Brown would marry Ella
and work with her from 1948 to 1952. In
1951, Brown was one of the original
members of The Modern Jazz Quartet, a
group that grew out of Gillespie's rhythm
section of pianist John Lewis,
vibraphonist Milt Jackson, Brown and
drummer Kenny Clarke. The following year,
Ray hooked up with pianist Oscar
Peterson's trio, where he remained for 14
years, traveling the world first class
with one of the most popular groups in
jazz.
Throughout
the years Brown also found time to record
with many of the finest musicians,
including Cannonball Adderly, Louis
Armstrong, Benny Carter, Roy Eldridge,
Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins,
both Hank and Elvin Jones, Count Basie,
Duke Ellington and Lester Young, just to
name a few.
In 1966,
Brown settled in Los Angeles, where along
with playing, he began to manage Quincy
Jones and The Modern Jazz Quartet. He also
founded The L.A. Four around this time,
owned a club for a while and freelanced
extensively in the studios. I remember
seeing him on ìThe Merv Griffin
Showî in the ë70s with
saxophonist Harold Land and others. Later
in that decade. Brown began touring with
pianist Cedar Walton and old Gillespie pal
Milt Jackson.
In the
mid-ë80s, Brown started his own trio
with pianist Gene Harris and drummer Jeff
Hamilton and started touring extensively
again. Brown recorded a number of
records for Concord Records, and in 1989
signed with the Telarc label, where he
would record 19 albums over the last 13
years of his life. Brown's trio wasn't
just a showcase for the leader, but
featured some of the major younger voices
in jazz like pianist Benny Green, drummer
Greg Hutchinson, pianist Geoff Keezer and
bassist Karriem Riggins with the much
older, but no less enthusiastic, Brown.
This group became one of the most
respected trios in jazz, with the ability
to soothe on a ballad, and come right back
and rock you with a hard-hitting blues.
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Ray
Brown's discography is so extensive it is
hard to recommend only a few things in the
space allotted, but you could start with
the early classic Gillespie sides from
1945, most any of his trio sides with
Oscar Peterson and some dates with Jazz at
the Philharmonic or Ella Fitzgerald. Some
of my own personal favorites are Something
For Lester on Contemporary, any of the
Milt Jackson/Cedar Walton sides on Pablo,
The Red Hot Ray Brown Trio on Concord and
many later Telarc recordings like Live At
Sculler's. He also can be heard to great
advantage on Sonny Rollin's Way Out West,
on Bill Evan's Quintessence, now out on
OJC, and James Williams' Magical Trio 2.
Ray Brown
may have played on some average records,
but he never gave an average performance.
He was one of those rare individuals who
could always find just the right way to
place the right notes with just the right
amount of feeling to propel the music in
so many different settings.
From the
standard he helped set with the pioneering
bebop groups to singers, to trios or small
groups and big band work. He found a
way to fit in with a multitude of
great players and usually improved the
proceedings with his huge tone, perfect
intonation and beautiful walking
lines. In 1956, the great bassist
Oscar Pettiford himself voted Brown the
best bassist in jazz.
While
Brown was more well known for his solid,
driving beat with mainstream groups, I was
reminded last year of his incredible
versatility with the reissue of Bill
Evan's Quintessence, a rare group
recording by the pianist that features
Brown in a very free melodic mode more
like Scott La Faro than anything recorded
before or since by Brown. Ray was also one
of, if not the greatest bowing bassist in
jazz, possessing a beautiful tone,
absolute pitch and the ability to make the
burly bass sing like a cello. One of the
most memorable concerts I've witnessed was
highlighted by Ray bowing a solo with his
trio that was so gorgeous that it hushed a
crowd to complete silence at Half Moon Bay
on a sunny Sunday afternoon years ago.
Brown's
greatest asset wasn't his impeccable
technique, though, but the fact that he
could use it to communicate pure emotion
on his instrument. It has been a while
since Ray's passing, and while much has
been written about his accomplishments
playing, a picture has also emerged of a
huge-hearted caring, nurturing individual
who helped the growth, development and
careers of many bassists and other
musicians. Ray not only set the standard,
but he helped and learned from others as
he explored and shared the music along the
way.
Ray Brown
was by all accounts a beautiful human
being, and he was able to translate that
into music every time he picked up the
bass. We'll sure miss you, Ray, and
thanks.
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