Results for "Ray Brown"

Ray Brown

Ray Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and had piano lessons from the age of eight. After noticing how many pianists attended his high school, he thought of taking up the trombone, but was unable to afford one. With a vacancy in the high school jazz orchestra, he took up the double bass. A major early influence on Brown's bass playing was the bassist in the Duke Ellington band, Jimmy Blanton. As a young man Ray Brown became steadily more well known in the Pittsburgh jazz scene, with his first experiences playing in bands with the Jimmy Hinsley Sextet and the Snookum Russel band. After graduating from high school, hearing stories about the burgeoning jazz scene on 52nd Street, in New York City, he bought a one way ticket to New York. Arriving in New York at the age of twenty, he met up with Hank Jones, with whom he had previously worked, and was introduced to Dizzy Gillespie, who was looking for a bass player

Yuri Goloubev: Two Chevrons Apart

By IAN PATTERSON

In recent years double bassist Yuri Goloubev has lent his rich sound to multiple projects, including the co-led Duonomics (Caligola, 2018) with Michele Di Toro. It was 2011's Titanic for a Bike (Caligola), however, that marked Goloubev's last recording as outright leader. This welcome return—his headlining debut on Basho Records—sees him align with frequent musical partners ...

Take Five with Alex Bird

By ALEX BIRD

Meet Alex Bird Alex Bird is a singer/songwriter and actor in jny: Toronto, ON. With a swinging style and an indescribable charm, Alex and his “Jazz Mavericks" are currently working on an entirely new chapter in the Great American Songbook, with their soon to be released, all original debut album, “Whisky Kisses" (Summer 2020). “The Way ...

Take Five with K Quintet

By K QUINTET

Meet K Quintet K Quintet is led by world-renowned Russian dancer Ksenia Parkhatskaya on vocals and Irish musician-composer David Duffy on bass. Citing influences such as Oscar Peterson, Red Garland, and Ben Webster, standards by the likes of Duke Ellington, Richard Rodgers & Henry Mancini are subtly mixed with original 'classic' compositions, written by ...

Benny Benack III: A Lot Of Livin' To Do

By DAN BILAWSKY

Benny Benack III does it all. A trumpeter, vocalist, writer and arranger with a swaggering soul and the chops to back up the panache, he's clearly done his fair share of living already. He may be young—only at the tail end of his twenties, believe it or not—but he seriously has his act together in every ...

Darek Oleszkiewicz: Rolls-Royce Groovin'

By JIM WORSLEY

Inspiring greatness has long been the two-word association with the grand luxury of Rolls-Royce. Britain's entry into automobile finery has thus become benchmark terminology. To hear bassist Darek Oleszkiewicz interact, navigate, and improvise with today's finest jazz musicians is to understand why he has been deemed the Rolls-Royce of the modern day upright. Carrying the torch ...

Larry Fuller Trio At The Jazz Corner

By MARTIN MCFIE

The Larry Fuller Trio The Jazz Corner Overjoyed Hilton Head Island, SC November 22-23, 2019 On a Saturday afternoon between performances, Larry Fuller took a moment to talk about his music while enjoying a coffee break at the Sonesta Oceanfront hotel, on jny: Hilton Head Island. In the morning, he ...

The Fred Hersch Trio: 10 Years / 6 Discs

By MARK CORROTO

You might be surprised by pianist Fred Hersch's response to a near-death coma in 2008. Quoting from his memoir Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In And Out Of Jazz (Crown Archetype Press, 2017), “a confrontation with death brings home the preciousness of life... It was the newest, brightest, shining, most surprising, most uplifting feeling I ...

Meet Andrew Rothman

By TESSA SOUTER AND ANDREA WOLPER

Lawyer, audiophile, lifelong arts enthusiast, our newest Super Fan's life plan was to be a classical pianist, until college took him in another direction. But it was two “major epiphanies" (the first time he heard Miles Davis and, later, Bill Evans) that turned him into a jazz Super Fan--such a Super Fan, in fact, that he ...

Monty Alexander: Still Rolling

By GENO THACKARA

If there's one defining quality to Monty Alexander's music, it's joy. An unmistakable undercurrent of happiness has been constant across several decades, dozens of recordings and countless performances all over the world. He could be honoring classic jazz balladeers, exploring the danceable “riddims" of his native Jamaica or anything in between, and you can always hear ...