One of the most prolific bassists in jazz history was born in Pittsburgh on October 13, 1926. Ray Brown began piano lessons when he was 8 years old and began playing upright bass in the orchestra when he was in high school.

Ray Brown began playing gigs around his hometown in his late teens and moved to New York City when he was 20 in hopes of finding work on 52nd Street. Shortly after arriving he met up with pianist Hank Jones. Jones introduced Brown to Dizzy Gillespie who was looking for a bass player for his band. Brown was hired and spent the five years playing in Gillespie’s rhythm section which included John Lewis on piano, Milt Jackson on vibraphone and Kenny Clarke at the drums. In 1947 Brown met and married singer Ella Fitzgerald while the two were on tour with the Gillespie band.

After leaving Gillespie in 1951 Brown became the bass player for Oscar Peterson’s combos for the next 14 years, while also keeping a busy schedule as a studio musician. During this period, he appeared on recordings with Count Basie, Roy Eldridge, Coleman Hawkins, Barney Kessel, Peggy Lee, Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan.

After leaving Peterson’s employ in 1965 Brown concentrated on studio work in Los Angeles and made records as a sideman with artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Linda Ronstadt, Steely Dan, Kiri Te Kanawa, Elvis Costello and Elton John. Ray Brown was a member of The L.A. Four between 1974 and 1982 along with guitarist Laurindo Almeida, reedman Bud Shank and drummer Shelly Manne. Ray Brown also is responsible for discovering pianist and vocalist Diana Krall at a restaurant in Nanaimo, British Columbia and convincing her to come to Los Angeles.

Ray Brown won a Grammy for his composition The Gravy Waltz and received an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music in 1995. He died in his sleep in 2002 and was posthumously inducted into the DownBeat Magazine Jazz Hall of Fame in 2003.

Here is a link to an L.A. Four recording:

"MISTY"