Ray Brown – Bass

This is the 800th transcription that I have posted on here and who better to honour that the great Ray Brown. My research into Paul Chambers revealed that RB and PC used to hand out when Brown was in Detroit when PC was a kid. Who better to mentor than arguably the swingingest bass player in the known universe. Brown played with all the greats including Ellington, Coltrane, Parker, Rollins, Gillespie, Hawkins, Webster, Oscar Peterson, Barney Kessel – the list is endless.

This is my take on the Sonny Rollins track ‘I’m An Old Cowhand (from the Rio Grande), a Johnny Mercer tune from the Rollins album, ‘Way Out West’. Rollins has a reputation for finding obscure tunes to improvise on and this track is classic Rollins. Alongside the saxophonist and drummer Shelley Manne, Brown plays the hell out of this chart, finding all sorts of way of keeping things interesting but, underneath it all, the swing is the thing. Watch the end section where Brown alternates the ostinato a semi tone apart, moving from F to F# and back repeatedly. I had never noticed that before transcribing it. Also, the form is 19 bars long, alternating 8 and 10 bar A and B sections.

Mostly playable but there are a couple of monster fills that may take the skin off your knuckles.