Ray brown teachin student how to be a real double bass player. Up to me he just was one of the best swingin double bass player of all time. Enjoy & learn :)
It would be a dream :) a bit scary, but once you realize that any bit of scruntinization from that man could transform your playing over time, I'd look forward to it.
It would be a dream to be scrutinized by a man like Ray. Unless you a crap and he tells you to go back to the beginning where you belong and learn where the notes are on the fingerboard. 30 years ago I had my professor pacing up and down at a jazz session where No Charts were allowed and you only had yer ears and instrument with you. I was nervous at first. My professor is 70 now and studied from Ray Brown early 70's. But for Ray to tell me what to do where am wrong is Not a scrutiny in any shape or form. It's a privilege to say the least.
Mr. Brown was a class act, a gentleman through and through. His devotion to his practice regimen was/is Legendary! Known for keeping to his practice regimen even while touring, he practiced his arco technique for hours in his hotel room. The result is the assurance and flawless, seemingly effortless mastery on his instrument. The treasure of videos, like this one, of him instructing following generations is truly inspiring. Thanks for uploading.
Ray Brown. A great musician and an equally wonderful teacher. Boy, if these students truly understood the immense privilege it was to be able to learn these golden nuggets of wisdom from this bass master, well... Very glad I stumbled across this session... Made my evening.
I met him at a seminar where he and Joe Pass were promoting Polytone amps. We talked for a while and he was nice enough to allow me to play his bass. Quite an honor!
I remember this being shown on the BBC when I was just a youngster, learning to play bass guitar....of course, I worked towards and eventually had a double bass as well. He had SUCH a great sound to his playing and there was swing in everything he played, even arco.
One of my favourite bass players. He swings and has an incredible sound. We lost him much too soon. I'm surprised that Ray didn't talk to the girl at the beginning about time since it is so important for every instrument, especially the bass. Maybe she was nervous, but her timing was very shaky.
Was she nervous? I would think that answer would be a resounding "YES!" Would you be in front of the great Ray Brown? I would have dropped my teeth. :)
When i took my first bass classes all i wanted to sound like was like a double bass its sound is unique and forever fresh and , really in the hands of Ray Brown my , uncle who was a drummer said that Ray Brown was his man on the bass now, years later and my uncle gone and , much older i can understand what he was talking about i ,still play electric bass but love double bass thanks Mr Brown for your talent your missed.
Ray Brown is the master, but we ALL loved this bassist: ARVELL SHAW. He's here on RU-vid with Louis Armstrong, live in Australia playing HOW HIGHT THE MOON. Phenomenal:)
Not my thing, but this is thrilling and inspiring. I don't know how to learn to do this but I have resources and even a 79, I will work at it. Thanks for wonderful and very worthwhile 37 minutes.
Yep. And it totally has that mid-'70s public TV vibe to it. Mr. Rogers could have stepped out of the audience and it would seemed normal. His show also used a lot of music like this, maybe that's why I make the connection.
Hands down, the double-bass sounds much better than any electric bass. BUT you need to be there in person to feel the vibrations the double-bass send throughout the air. It's DIVINE. The electric bass doesn't do this although it can create loud sound but the feel just isn't there.
owenmcburns For sure. Listen to some song from Santana's Caravanserai where's there's upright. "Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation" and "Stone Flower" are two of my favourites. Great album!
Every double bassist has his/her own sound and playing style. Comes from decades of familiarity with the instrument. Usually developed from childhood, in an elementary school band or orchestra, and continued throughout the life of the musician. Paul Chambers (whose style and playing I prefer, and try to emulate), Ron Carter, Jimmy Blanton, and scores of others have also left their indelible mark on jazz bass, with this remarkable instrument. Each contributing to the evolution of the double bass. From a single pitch percussive choral outline note, to a melodic as well as harmonic voice in the ensemble, it has come a long way. Ray Brown is definitely one of the masters. However, there are many...far too numerous to mention here!
Ray, in his early years was a student of the piano, having taken lessons until he became interested in the upright bass violin. His knowledge and experience with chords prepared him to be a master of improvisation, able to provide the right chord at the right time. He developed his own tone sound that became his signature.
Good god dam, Ray, lay it out! BUT, this vid seems like a bit more of him stroking the hell out of some licks versus teaching at times. Everyone is in reverence, but the students needed fundamentals. None of them swing; all of them needed guidance as to how to lead properly. Still, just an amazing, timeless display of how our jazz pillars were the real deal. Ray, Oscar, Coltrane, and on and on. The real deal. Young boys and girls, when you look at your videos now of many of these new "artists", do you see the real deal like you see it here?
Yeah, you can tell she really practiced the song. But she struggles when she has to play in a different key, and she tends to rush when playing it more slowly. What sets Ray Brown apart from the students is his adaptability. He can play in any key, any meter, any style, any tempo and keep perfect time. That comes from his wealth of experience compared to them.
"Wealth of experience", you're spot-on! His generation, and the previous one, they enjoyed the riches of diversity. It may very well have been that 'jazz giant' Ray Brown actually played for waltzing couples, bop after hours, Broadway or Brahms, tiny clubs and glitzy venues. There are many kids nowadays who will most likely never live up to their great potential, as social life has actually become less diverse than it used to be. Gigs that would enable them to be learning by doing are hard to come by. Sounds paradoxical, but it's the awful truth.
" Jouez-moi un petit blues en Do bémol... " Hein ? Quoi ? Non cher monsieur, ceci est un La bémol (A) Mais merci pour cette magnifique vidéo ;) Cheers !
There's more than one version of this on YT, and all that I've found thus far have a gap in the middle - the second student played Have You Met Miss Jones with the piano and drums - anyone got this section?
When I look at the hair and at the dress I guess that it could be in the early seventies. When he is talking about the end of the Rock & Roll era it could be the late fifties and the sixties.??
There is the date at the end in roman numeral. But definition is too low. I cannot get it for sure but if the last ones are XXVI as i see it, it would be 1976. This video is a treasure.
