Ray Brown - Ray Brown--Legendary Jazz Bassist

"Of ability, quality or eminence considerably above the normal or average." That's the definition of "great," according to the Oxford English Dictionary . It's also a perfect description of the playing of Raymond Matthews Brown.

From the mid-1950s until his untimely death in 2002, every major, celebrated bassist from Sam Jones to Ron Carter to Buster Williams to John Clayton to John Patitucci and everyone in between has listed Ray Brown as a primary influence. Browns playing exemplified the very best of all aspects of bass playingsound, time, technical fluidity, intonation, harmonic intelligence, and most of all, groove ! I once heard a highly respected drummer say, It was hard to play with Ray Brown, because he grooved and swung so forcefully, drums were somewhat superfluous. He was a one-man band.

Kudos to the wonderful bassist, Matthew Rybicki, for his thorough research and giving us these figurative maps of harmonic greatness from Ray Brown. I urge you to purchase the recordings from which these transcriptions are derived, so you can not only read the notes, but most importantly, feel the groove of Mr. Raymond Matthews Brown.

Enjoy,

Christian McBride

Ray Brown is probably one of the greatest talents ever on his particular instrument. He has a natural, intuitive feel for anything he approaches musically, and his sound is so huge and personal that listeners recognize it almost automatically.

- Oscar Peterson

Hes the greatest working bass player I know. Hes done more of it and hes done it well. Hes a complete bass player and soloist.

- Milt Hinton

Ray Brown is the reason I play bass. The instrument chose me and I chose Ray Brown. At age sixteen, I didnt know much about how awesome he was, but the more I studied him and studied with him, the more I learned what the jazz world already knew: he was a pivotal force in jazz from his bebop days until his death.

- John Clayton

I have a special place for Ray Brown's playing because his approach to the instrument was the thing that inspired me initially ... [he] is the fundamental influence that I have on my playing. He kind of holds a special place for me.

- Dave Holland

He developed a lot of the skills that became the standards of the next generation of virtuoso bassists. Like Blanton, Mingus, and Pettiford, Ray developed his technique before the invention of amplifiers and metal strings ... He knew how to project his tone ... making the bass line powerfully propel the rhythm section and the band.

- Bill Crow

Ray has an insatiable desireinsatiable, absolutely insatiableto find the right note at the right time [He is] the epitome of forethought; sympathetic forethought.

- Oscar Peterson

Ray had so much love of life and the music. He had so much integrity. He treated the music with so much dignity and respect. I spent four and a half years as a sideman with Ray Brown's trio. Music was his life, more so than anyone I could mention.

- Benny Green

Mr. Brown was Mr. Bass, thats it! When I first heard him play in 1943 I said to myself, Good God! This man comes from another planet! I had never heard a bass played like that. And he swung so hard.

- Hank Jones

Ray was the man! He got the biggest and strongest sound ever on the bass. His sound came directly from the center of the earth. Like an earthquake.

- Lionel Hampton

Ray Brown is on every recording date I ever doif I can get him. Hes simply the best theres ever been.

- Quincy Jones