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Catalog Data

Creator:
Brown, Ray (Jazz musician)  Search this
Composer:
Allen, Steve, 1921-2000  Search this
Musician:
Clarke, Kenny, 1914-1985  Search this
Clayton, John  Search this
Ellis, Herb  Search this
Harris, Gene, 1933-2000  Search this
Jackson, Milt  Search this
Lewis, John, 1920-2001  Search this
Peterson, Oscar, 1925-  Search this
Shank, Bud  Search this
Singer:
Fitzgerald, Ella, 1917-1996  Search this
Producer:
Granz, Norman  Search this
Extent:
8 Cubic feet (8 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Posters
Clippings
Music
Audiotapes
Awards
Scrapbooks
Correspondence
Business records
Date:
circa 1940-2010
Summary:
Ray Brown was an African-American musician, composer, bandleader, manager, music teacher and promoter. He became best known for his collaborative work with Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, the Oscar Peterson Trio and Norman Granz' s Jazz at the Philharmonic. Over the course of his career, Brown received awards and accolades from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jazz Hall of Fame, Down Beat and Playboy. Brown's papers document his professional music career from 1944 to 2002 and include music compositions and notes, publicity materials, photographs, and some recordings of his performances.
Scope and Contents:
The collection primarily documents the near sixty-year music career of upright bass player, bandleader, composer, and instructor Raymond Matthews (Ray) Brown and the various bands that he played with. The materials consist of music manuscripts, musical arrangements, published sheet music, photographs, programs, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, posters, audio and video recordings, honors and awards, correspondence, and publications. There is very little information about Brown's education, family or other aspects of his personal life.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into six series. Series 1: Musical Compositions and Notes, 1940s-2000s, undated Series 2: Publicity Materials, 1950s-2002, undated Series 3: Photographic Materials, 1940-2003, undated Series 4: Personal Papers, 1954-2010 Series 5: Audiovisual Materials, 1978-1993, undated Subseries 5.1: Moving Images, 1992-1993, undated Subseries 5.2: Audio Recordings, 1978-1985, undated Series 6: Performance Materials, 1964-1995, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Raymond Matthews Brown was an African American musician (double bass and cello) born on October 13, 1926 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He became known for his collaborative work with Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald (to whom he was married for a few years), and others. He was a composer, bandleader, manager, music teacher, and promoter. His professional music career lasted almost sixty years, dating from 1944 to 2002. Brown's career began with a risky move to New York City in 1945, as a recent high school graduate, which resulted in his being hired on the spot to play with Dizzy Gillespie. Brown continued to play with Gillespie and others in various groups, recording songs such as "One Bass Hit" and "Night in Tunisia," before leaving in 1947. Brown married notable jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald that same year. He and Fitzgerald adopted a son, Raymond Matthew Brown Jr., and performed together in Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic. Granz's tours, which Brown participated in from around 1949 to 1958, allowed him to travel and play all around the world. After being introduced to Oscar Peterson during a Philharmonic tour, Brown became a founding member of the Oscar Peterson Trio in 1952. His growing commitment to the group, along with other factors, led to Brown and Fitzgerald's divorce in 1953. However, the two would continued to collaborate and perform together, as friends and colleagues. Brown worked with Peterson and other prominent jazz musicians to find the Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto, which lasted from 1960 to 1965. He left the Peterson trio in the late 1960s and moved to Los Angeles to work as a composer, manager, educator, and publisher. In California, he worked for several movie and television show orchestras, became bassist for all of Frank Sinatra's television specials, and accompanied some noted singers, including Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Tony Bennett. He composed the theme song to Steve Allen's show, "Gravy Waltz," for which they both won a Grammy Award in 1964. He also managed the Modern Jazz Quartet, and Quincy Jones. In the 1980s, he formed the Ray Brown Trio with pianist Gene Harris, which lasted nine years. He also directed events such as the Monterey Jazz and Concord Summer Festivals, and consulted for the Hollywood Bowl Association. Brown continued to play and record with his trio and various other groups, such as the Oscar Peterson Trio and the Modern Jazz Quartet, for the rest of his life. He also published an instructional book for the bass, Ray Brown's Bass Method, through his own company in 1999. Over the course of his career, Brown received awards and accolades from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jazz Hall of Fame, Down Beat, Playboy, and many more. Ray Brown died in 2002 at the age of seventy- five.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History Charismic Productions Records of Dizzy Gillespie NMAH.AC.0979 Ella Fitzgerald Papers NMAH.AC.0584 Duke Ellington Collection NMAH.AC.0301 Duke Ellington Oral History Project NMAH.AC.0368 Edward and Gaye Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials NMAH.AC.0704 Ruth Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials NMAH.AC.0415 Leslie Schinella Collection of Gene Krupa Materials NMAH.AC.1220
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives Center in 2015 by Ray Brown's widow, Cecilia Brown.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
African Americans -- Music  Search this
Music -- Performance  Search this
Music -- Songs  Search this
Musicians  Search this
Musicians -- United States  Search this
Jazz musicians -- United States  Search this
African American music -- 20th century  Search this
Jazz  Search this
African American musicians  Search this
Music -- 20th century  Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographic prints
Posters
Posters -- 20th century
Clippings
Music -- Manuscripts
Audiotapes
Awards
Scrapbooks -- 20th century
Correspondence -- 20th century
Business records -- 20th century
Citation:
Ray Brown Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1362
See more items in:
Ray Brown Papers
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep81f8e32db-ee2a-4eb0-9267-48e04a1fdec8
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1362