Ray Brown

Born: October 13, 1926

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

The Summer Knows (un ��t�� 42)

by Artur Moral
August 30, 2025

Not so young, but still foolish: arduous is the path chosen by pianist, composer and singer Franck Amsallem, a lesser-known figure--outside his immediate performance circle--even among some of the jazz world's most avid and encyclopedic enthusiasts. Nevertheless, this musician's name should appear in that roster of outstanding French baby boomer keyboardists mentioned in Pierre de Bethmann: ...

Ray Brown: His Life and Music

by Andrew Hunter
August 25, 2025

Ray Brown: His Life and Music Jay Sweet 310 Pages ISBN: # 9781800505353 Equinox Publishing2025 It is such a common occurrence in life that bad things happen to good people, and conversely that good things happen to bad people, that there is a branch of theology given to ...

Dug and Jazz Spot Intro in Tokyo

by Sanford Josephson
August 2, 2025

I owe my love of jazz to the time I spent in Japan in the mid-1960s when I was working as a writer in the public information office of the American Red Cross' Far Eastern Area headquarters, located on a U.S. Army base about 45 minutes from Tokyo. While there, I saw Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, ...

Paul Vornhagen: Live at the Blue LLama

by Jack Bowers
May 19, 2025

Saxophonist and composer Paul Vornhagen, a durable pillar on Detroit's jazz scene for almost three decades, puts his working quartet straight to work on this inspiring concert date, recorded in November 2023 at the Blue Llama Jazz Club in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The group's precision and empathy are clear from the outset, as ...

Roberto Magris, Claire Ritter, and Jessica Jones

by Jerome Wilson
April 2, 2025

This show features recent music from Roberto Magris. Claire Ritter, and Jessica Jones. It also contains older work from Yusef Lateef, Tomasz Stanko, and Dizzy Gillespie. It also has a tribute to the late Jesse Colin Young. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia ...

Jim Howard

Joni Mitchell Jazzed: Ten Essential Mitchell Covers

by Ian Patterson
January 3, 2025

Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell's spectacular transition from acoustic folk singer in the '60s through folk-rock 'n' roller in the early '70s to leader of jazz-inflected bands in the mid-'70s was a gradual process. This musical transformation can be traced over the course of five albums for Asylum, beginning with the multi-million seller and Grammy-winner Court and ...

Together Again!!!!

By Teddy Edwards

Label: Craft Recordings
Released: 2024
Track listing: Together Again; You Stepped Out of A Dream; Up There; Perhaps; Misty; Sandy.

Christian McBride: Jazz Notes from the Engine Room

by Lawrence Peryer
November 9, 2024

Today, the Spotlight shines On Christian McBride, a musician, recording artist, prolific composer, arranger, producer, cultural curator, dedicated educator, and mentor.Christian has been called the hardest-working person in jazz and the above list might be underselling it. From his early days in Philadelphia soaking up the sounds of Philly Soul to sharing stages with ...