Ray Brown Collection

Biography

Raymond Matthews “Ray” Brown was born on October 13, 1926, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He began playing piano at the age of 8; in high school, he took up the double bass, the instrument for which he was best known.

Brown played his first professional gig at a local Pittsburgh club in 1943, and in 1944 he toured with the Jimmy Hinsley quintet and the bandleader Snookum Russell. After moving to New York City in 1945 at the age of 19, Brown played with Dizzy Gillespie, including in Gillespie’s big band in 1946 and 1947. In 1948, Brown played with Hank Jones and Charlie Smith as a trio. He played in the Oscar Peterson Trio from 1951 to 1966, which raised his international profile as a jazz musician, and joined the Milt Jackson quintet in the mid-1960s. In 1974, Brown formed the L.A. Four, a jazz quartet with Laurindo Almeida, Bud Shank, and Shelly Manne. In the later 1970s and into the 1980s, Brown focused more on management, composition, and publishing. He continued to play, record, and tour, joining musicians including Gene Harris, Monty Alexander, Benny Green, and Geoff Geezer.

According to The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Brown was “noted for the precision of his playing, the beauty of his tone, and the tastefulness of his solos” (Kernfeld, 159).

Brown was married to Ella Fitzgerald from 1948 to 1952; the two toured together in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In the 1950s he married Cecilia Brown. Ray Brown died on July 2, 2002.

Ray Brown papers Finding Aid

Sources

Feather, Leonard, and Ira Gitler. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz Oxford University Press, 1999.

Kernfeld, Barry, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994.

“Ray Brown, Jazz Bassist Born.” African American Registry. https://aaregistry.org/story/ray-brown-bass-player-extraordinaire/. Archived: https://perma.cc/KH2Y-5YXD

“Ray Brown.” National Endowment for the Arts. https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/ray-brown. Archived: https://perma.cc/P9E7-4SV7