Ray Brown Jr. | |
|---|---|
 Ray Brown Jr on the cover of Friends and Family | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Raymond Matthews Brown Jr. |
| Born | New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instruments |
|
| Labels | SRI Jazz |
| Website | www |
Raymond Matthews Brown Jr. is an American jazz and blues singer.
The adopted son of Ray Brown and Ella Fitzgerald, he was born in New York City, on 13 August 1949, to Fitzgerald's half-sister Frances. Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra and many others were regular visitors during his childhood. [1]
After moving to California when he was 10, Ray discovered a passion for the drums and for singing. He attended Beverly Hills High School where he sang with school groups which toured at local festivals and hospitals. [2]
His father arranged for him to study with jazz percussionists Bill Douglass and Chuck Flores. Despite his jazz roots he admits that his interest in performing rock music was an act of rebellion. "I used to drive my parents crazy with this. I told my father a few years before he died, you know a lot of times I played that music 'cause I just wanted to see the look on your face.". [1]
His mother's 1964 single "Ringo Beat" was inspired by her son's interest in rock music.
He moved to Seattle in 1971, studying with another drummer, Bill Coleman Sr. It was at this time that Brown began writing songs in addition to playing drums and piano.
In the late 1980s Brown toured the Pacific Northwest, Canada, Alaska, Japan, Korea and Guam performing in tours for the United States Department of Defense. This is when his daughter, Alice, was conceived and born in Ketchikan, Alaska to Rebecca Judd. Like his famous parents, Brown says he loves performing on the road. He states,
"I love to tour. I've been able to see a lot of the world and I just absolutely enjoyed being able to be with different types of people, different cultures and to see the world. It's just kind of broadened who I am as a person, which eventually will filter down into the music, the influences." [1]
In 2001, Brown recorded his debut album Slow Down for Love on SRI Jazz, which reached the top 50 of the Gavin Report. His second album, Committed from the Heart, was released in 2003. His sound has been described as an adult contemporary pop sound layered with R&B. Brown wrote and arranged all the songs on both albums.
Additionally in 2003, Brown debuted on the Las Vegas Strip, performing five nights a week in the Le Bistro Theater at the Riviera hotel and casino. [3] In 2007 he released the album Stand by Me.
In September 2008, Ray Brown Jr. released a duets album, Friends and Family, produced by Shelly Liebowitz, on SRI Jazz, a division of SRI Records. Vocal artists on this album include Jane Monheit, Melba Moore, James Moody, Maria Muldaur, Dr. John, Dionne Warwick, Freda Payne, Sophie B. Hawkins, Paul Williams, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Dave Somerville, Kim Hoyer, and Sally Kellerman. Additional instrumental performances appear on some of the album tracks with artists David "Fathead" Newman, and jazz vibraphonist Terry Gibbs. Also included on the album is Brown's second daughter who went by the stage name 'Haylee' singing "A-Tisket, A-Tasket", which was made famous by her grandmother. There is also a bonus track with Brown's parents in a live version of "How High the Moon" with Ella Fitzgerald and Brown Jr. on vocals and Ray Brown playing bass.
In 1998, Brown attended the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation ceremony honoring his mother, Ella Fitzgerald. In 2007, he appeared in a BBC documentary talking about his mother entitled Ella Fitzgerald: First Lady of Song. Also in 2007, he attended the ceremony for the Ella Fitzgerald stamp produced by the United States Postal Service. He traveled to events commemorating what would have been her 90th birthday. On May 30, 2020, he appeared in a BBC documentary entitled Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things.
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, absolute pitch, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.
Diana Jean Krall is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the US. On December 11, 2009, Billboard magazine named her the second greatest jazz artist of the decade (2000–2009), establishing her as one of the best-selling artists of her time.
Barney Kessel was an American jazz guitarist. Known in particular for his knowledge of chords and inversions and chord-based melodies, he was a member of many prominent jazz groups as well as a "first call" guitarist for studio, film, and television recording sessions. Kessel was a member of the group of session musicians informally known as the Wrecking Crew.
Raymond Matthews Brown was an American jazz double bassist, known for his extensive work with Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald. He was also a founding member of the group that would later develop into the Modern Jazz Quartet.
Ella in Rome: The Birthday Concert is a live album by Ella Fitzgerald, with a jazz trio led by Lou Levy, and also featuring the Oscar Peterson trio. Recorded in 1958, it was released thirty years later.
Take Love Easy is an album by the jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald with guitarist Joe Pass, released in 1974.
Ernestine Anderson was an American jazz and blues singer. In a career spanning more than six decades, she recorded over 30 albums. She was nominated four times for a Grammy Award. She sang at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Monterey Jazz Festival, as well as at jazz festivals all over the world. In the early 1990s she joined Qwest Records, the label founded by fellow Garfield High School graduate Quincy Jones.
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book is a 1957 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by Duke Ellington and his orchestra, focusing on Ellington's songs.
Ella and Louis Again is a studio album by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, released in 1957 on Verve Records. It is the sequel to their 1956 album, Ella and Louis. In contrast to their previous collaboration, this album features seven solo vocal tracks by either Armstrong or Fitzgerald amongst its dozen duet tracks. It was reissued as part of a two-compact disc set in 1995, and in The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong on Verve in 1997. It was recorded at Radio Recorders and Capitol Studios, Hollywood.
"If I Were a Bell" is a song composed by Frank Loesser for his 1950 musical Guys and Dolls.
Johnny Frigo was an American jazz violinist, bassist and songwriter. He appeared in the 1940s as a violinist before working as a bassist. He returned to the violin in the 1980s and enjoyed a comeback, recording several albums as a leader.
Martin Louis Paich was an American pianist, composer, arranger, record producer, music director, and conductor. As a musician and arranger he worked with jazz musicians Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Kenton, Al Hirt, Art Pepper, Buddy Rich, Ray Brown, Shorty Rogers, Pete Rugolo, Ray Charles and Mel Tormé. His long association with Tormé included one of the singer's earliest albums, Mel Tormé with the Marty Paich Dek-Tette. Over the next three decades he worked with pop singers such as Andy Williams and Jack Jones and for film and television. He is the father of David Paich, a founding member of the rock band Toto.
Diane Joan Schuur, nicknamed "Deedles", is an American jazz singer and pianist. As of 2015, Schuur had released 23 albums, and had extended her jazz repertoire to include essences of Latin, gospel, pop and country music. Her most successful album is Diane Schuur & the Count Basie Orchestra, which remained number one on the Billboard Jazz Charts for 33 weeks. She won Grammy Awards for best female jazz vocal performance in both 1986 and 1987 and has had three other Grammy nominations.
Plas John Johnson Jr. is an American soul-jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist, probably most widely known as the tenor saxophone soloist on Henry Mancini’s "The Pink Panther Theme". He also performs on alto and baritone sax as well as various flutes and clarinets.
Herbert Arnold Geller was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger. He was born in Los Angeles.
When Harry Met Sally... is the soundtrack to the 1989 film of the same name starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. The songs are performed by pianist Harry Connick Jr., who won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance.
Shelly Liebowitz was an American record executive, promoter, producer, and manager. He was the CEO of SRI Label Group, a Los Angeles-based, independent record company that specializes in modern and classic jazz, blues, country and rock. In his career as a producer and promoter, he worked with artists ranging from Sammy Davis Jr. to John Lennon. He licensed recordings worldwide, and worked as a consultant to several major music labels.
Charles Curtis Berghofer is an American double bassist and electric bassist, who has worked in jazz and as a session musician in the film industry for more than 60 years, including working on more than 400 movie soundtracks.
The collaborations between Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong have attracted much attention over the years. The artists were both widely known icons not just in the areas of big band, jazz, and swing music but across 20th century popular music in general. The two African-American musicians produced three official releases together in Ella and Louis (1956), Ella and Louis Again (1957), and Porgy and Bess (1959). Each release earned both commercial and critical success. As well, tracks related to those albums have also appeared in various forms in multi-artist collections and other such records.
Gregg Field is an American record producer and musician, who has worked with many well-known artists. He is a recipient of multiple Grammy and Emmy awards.
