Ray Brown

Bassist Ray Brown's career spans five decades; as well as a prolific solo career, his credentials include some of the greatest of the Bop groups and jazz singers. His blues-inflected style stemmed from the walking bass of the great Jimmy Blanton. Brown's career began in 1945, at the dawn of Bop, when at age nineteen, he began playing with Dizzy Gillespie. But instead of staying on the Bop circuit, Brown formed his own trio in order to play behind the great singer Ella Fitzgerald. Brown toured with Fitzgerald until 1951, when he joined the prolific Oscar Peterson Trio, with whom he played for fifteen years. In 1961, he began recording albums as a leader, which ranged from Big Band outings to fine trio work. When half the jazz world turned Fusion in the 1970s, Brown remained faithful to Bop and classic jazz. To this day, he's continued to hone his craft.