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View Full Version : The incredible Ray Brown



rdgrimes
08-03-2009, 12:26 PM
Seems like as good a place as any to mention this amazing guy.

Any jazz fan knows who Ray Brown is, and if you reach for any high-quality classic jazz album made for the past 50 years, odds are fair that Ray was playing bass on it. Ray's recording career started around 1945 and ended the year he died in 2002. That's 57 years. There is no accurate discography of his work, but the research I've done indicates that he appears on around 500 jazz albums. If you eliminate the compilations, re-issues and the like, it might be closer to 300-400. If you search "Ray Brown" in Amazon music, you get 594 hits.

If that's not enough of a legacy, Ray also managed to maintain a touring schedule with his own bands while also doing more session work than anyone else in history. In fact, Ray died while on tour at the age of 75. After playing 9 holes of golf he retired to his hotel room to rest for a performance that night, and died in his sleep.

Here's just a few of the high-quality releases that highlight Ray's work later in his career:

"The Very Tall Band" with Oscar Peterson, Milt Jackson
Telarc Hybrid SACD, DSD recording and mastering

"SuperBass 2" with John Clayton and Christian McBride
Telarc Hybrid SACD, DSD recording and mastering

"The Red Hot Ray Brown Trio" with Gene Harris
Groove Note remaster and Hybrid SACD release

"Live at the Loa - Summer Wind" Ray Brown Trio with Gene Harris
Concord Hybrid SACD, 24-ch DSD re-master from the original analog tapes.