Jan 15, 2021 9:00 AM
John Coltrane, Out Of Obscurity
In late June of 1964, in between Impulse Records studio dates for Crescent and A Love Supreme, saxophonist John…
Bassist Ray Brown, one of the most important musicians in jazz, lending his impeccable support to the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald, died Tuesday. He was 75.
Brown died in his sleep in Indianapolis. He was in town for a show at the club the Jazz Kitchen, and according to reports, Brown played golf earlier Tuesday and went to take an afternoon nap. When he did not show up for the evening performance, a bandmate went to his hotel room, where his body was found.
Along with men like Jimmy Blanton, Oscar Pettiford and Charles Mingus, bassist Ray Brown must be considered among the modern giants of his instrument. When he began working with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band circa 1945-‘47, Brown helped open the way for the bebop movement’s more progressive shift away from swing-era rhythm patterns.
A Pittsburgh native born Oct. 13, 1926, Brown studied piano at the age of 8 then started playing bass by ear in his teens. He was working with local bands before joining Snookum Russell’s band, then Gillespie at age 20, also working with most of the other bebop greats. He would have been the original bassist in the Modern Jazz Quartet but was already making more money touring with Ella Fitzgerald. Brown toured with the trio backing Fitzgerald from 1947-51 (and was married to the singer from 1948-‘52), then began a 15-year tenure with Oscar Peterson, which ended with Brown taking up residence in Los Angeles. Brown also performed with singers such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughan and Peggy Lee.
He became a personal manager while continuing to perform and record. And he was involved with the Hollywood Bowl Association in jazz concert production, directed the Monterey Jazz Festival for two years and was the music director of the Concord Summer Festival for two years. Since his co-founding role in the L.A. 4 (with Bud Shank, Laurindo Almeida and Shelly Manne) in the mid-‘70s, Brown co-led a quartet with Milt Jackson.
For the past couple of decades, Brown worked with his own trios, mostly in the company of pianists such as Monty Alexander, Gene Harris, Benny Green and Geoff Keezer, recording for the Concord and Telarc labels.
John Coltrane’s Blue World takes its name from a contrafact of Harold Arlen’s “Out Of This World.”
Jan 15, 2021 9:00 AM
In late June of 1964, in between Impulse Records studio dates for Crescent and A Love Supreme, saxophonist John…
Carla Bley (left), Steve Swallow and Andy Sheppard recorded Life Goes On for the ECM label.
Dec 15, 2020 8:57 AM
The list below is a roundup of the 5-, 4.5- and 4-star reviews that ran in the print edition of DownBeat during 2020.…
James Erskine’s documentary Billie includes vintage photos that have been digitally colorized by artist Marina Amaral.
Dec 4, 2020 1:53 PM
How does one craft a biography of Billie Holiday with a surprise ending?
She is perhaps the most intensely…
Guitarist Pat Metheny topped two DownBeat Readers Poll categories this year: Guitar and Jazz Album, for his disc From This Place (Nonesuch).
Dec 4, 2020 8:47 AM
A conversation with Pat Metheny is similar to one of his shows: Some parts seem carefully constructed, while others are…
Veronica Swift has both a historical connection to the music and a desire to expand its artistic purview.
Nov 27, 2020 9:00 AM
Welcome to our enthusiastic, optimistic look at the future.
Below, DownBeat presents short profiles of two dozen…
