Ray Brown – Bass

Until I researched the matter for this post, I hadn’t realised how prolific Ray Brown was. Did you know he has recorded 69 albums as a leader/co=leader? I know him primarily as THE bass player for a significant part of the history of the Oscar Peterson Trio (Brown recorded no less than 80 albums with Peterson) but he is just one of those guys that has recorded with everyone; Benny Carter, Blosson Dearie, Roy Eldridge, Duke Ellington, Jose Feliciano, Ella Fitzgerald (Mrs. Brown to you), Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman, Hawkins, Milt Jackson, Hank Jones, Quincy Jones, Barney Kessel, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Manhattan Transfer, Charlie Parker, Frank Sinatra, Ben Webster, Art Pepper and, get this, Steely Dan (Countdown To Ecstasy). He was an important mentor for Paul Chambers (but you already know that because you have all read ‘Mr. P.C: the life and music of Paul Chambers’ – winner of the blah, blah, blah….

This was a request from a member of Talkbass (we get requests, you know). It is the exquisite little bass part for the tune ‘Have You Met Miss Jones’ from the 1964 Oscar Peterson album, ‘We Get Requests’ (see what I did there. It wasn’t an album I knew (I never got into OP, if I am honest) but it is a lovely arrangement and Ray Brown just always swings so beautifully.