Jazz Articles about Ray Brown

About Ray Brown

Album Review

Oscar Peterson Trio with Herb Ellis and Ray Brown: Vancouver 1958

Read "Vancouver 1958" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
July 8, 2023

This iteration of the Oscar Peterson Trio, with guitarist Herb Ellis and bassist Ray Brown, had been together for five years at the time of this recording, but it was reaching its expiration date. Following appearances at The Vancouver Jazz Festival on August 4 and 8, 1958, there was only one further instance of the trio recording together that year, and that was for KABC-TV Stars of Jazz on August 18,1958 after which Herb Ellis left the band. The principals ...

Reassessing

The Easy Way

by Richard J Salvucci
February 21, 2023

It is fair to wonder how Jimmy Giuffre would be remembered had he not gone off on to the wilder shores of atonality, collective improvisation, and free jazz with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow in the early 1960s. It is easy to forget that Giuffre was regarded as a rising star, both as a multi-instrumentalist (he played tenor and baritone sax; clarinet was apparently a double for him) and a composer, in the 1950s. Yes, mentioned in the same breath ...

Book Review

On Jazz: A Personal Journey

by Richard J Salvucci
November 16, 2022

On Jazz:A Personal Journey Alyn Shipton300 Pages ISBN: 978-1-108-83423-0 Cambridge University Press 2022 Alyn Shipton is a distinguished jazz journalist, bassist, BBC radio presenter and biographer who may be best known for his A New History of Jazz (Continuum, 2001). In some ways, the present volume is a companion piece, because if you are inclined to wonder how anyone could have ever learned enough to write a 900 page volume, you may ...

Album Review

Oscar Peterson: Exclusively For My Friends

Read "Exclusively For My Friends" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
September 18, 2015

An 8-CD set of recordings from the great Oscar Peterson, beautifully recorded, sumptuously packaged and accompanied by a 60-page booklet full of informative writing: Exclusively For My Friends is a treat for ears and eyes. All of the recordings on this set were made between 1963 and 1971. The sessions took place in the home of producer and MPS Records owner Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer in Germany's Black Forest--Peterson and Brunner-Schwer were friends and the pianist often visited the label owner's ...

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Album Review

Brown/Alexander/Griffin/Drew: Summer Wind

Read "Summer Wind" reviewed by Rob Mariani

by Rob Mariani
August 4, 2005

This is a collaboration of giants who swing so hard and with such incomparable assuredness that you simply cannot sit still when they are playing. And it all starts with Ray Brown. His huge, woody double-bass sound is unmistakable, as is his impeccable time feeling. So much has been written about this incredible musician; on this particular CD he lives up to every one of his greatest accolades. Ray Brown defines swinging in 4/4 time and will always be one ...

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Album Review

Oscar Peterson: A Jazz Portrait of Frank Sinatra

Read "A Jazz Portrait of Frank Sinatra" reviewed by Ollie Bivens

by Ollie Bivens
December 26, 2004

Recorded in '59 and just reissued on CD, this homage is described by pianist Oscar Peterson as “not only a tribute to Frank Sinatra but also my emotional interpretation of the feeling I get when I hear him." The album was part of a popular five album songbook set of the music of various songwriters and singers, all recorded in the same year.Smartly and very concisely arranged by Peterson, all the tunes on A Jazz Portrait of Frank ...

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Album Review

Ray Brown: Walk On

Read "Walk On" reviewed by Terrell Kent Holmes

by Terrell Kent Holmes
October 4, 2004

Ray Brown (1926-2002) played the bass the same way he lived: with style, a peerless vivacity and a boundless generosity of spirit. Unlike most bass players, when Brown was at the helm the listener always had the sense of his being a true leader, not merely a timekeeper and occasional soloist. The final testament to his brilliance is Walk On , a two-disc set featuring his last studio recordings, with pianist Geoffrey Keezer and drummer Karriem Riggins and previously unreleased ...