Late bassist Ray Brown was a Seattle favorite, friend to local musicians

Ray Brown will always be remembered as a virtuoso bassist, jazz elder and key figure in the be-bop movement of the 1940s.

Brown died Tuesday afternoon in his sleep in a hotel in Indianapolis, where his trio was playing at the Jazz Kitchen. He was 75.

Brown was a Seattle favorite whose annual gigs here were much anticipated.

Pianist Larry Fuller, a Seattle resident, had been performing with Brown since 2000.

Brown was renowned for the swinging thrust and harmonic certitude of his "walking bass" lines, virtuoso command of his instrument and elegant, orchestral arranging style that made his piano trio sound like a little big band.

Born in Pittsburgh Oct. 13, 1926, he grew up in the African-American neighborhood called "The Hill," memorialized in the plays of Seattle-based playwright August Wilson. It was there Brown heard Duke Ellington bassist Jimmy Blanton, whose virtuoso solo style inspired a generation of young be-bop bassists.

Brown began playing piano at 8, took up the bass in high school and played his first professional gig in 1943. He went on the road after graduating from high school in 1944, arriving in New York the following year, where he was hired by the quintet of bop innovators Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. In 1947, he began a lifetime association with promoter Norman Granz's touring extravaganza, Jazz at the Philharmonic. Brown was married from 1947-1953 to vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, also serving as her musical director and accompanist.

Brown was a key figure in the development of the jazz piano trio, becoming widely known with Oscar Peterson, with whom he was associated until 1966. Beginning with his Peterson period, Brown began to top the jazz polls.

In 1951, Brown also performed with the Milt Jackson Quartet, a precursor of the Modern Jazz Quartet. He also played the cello, and had a hybrid instrument built that was the forerunner of the piccolo bass.

From 1966-76, Brown immersed himself in studio work, in Los Angeles. His composition, "Gravy Waltz," with lyrics by Steve Allen, won a 1963 Grammy Award. Brown also won back-to-back Grammys in 1990-91 for albums with the Peterson. He was Frank Sinatra's bassist of choice for TV specials.

In 1974, Brown formed a chamber jazz quartet, the L.A. Four, which featured alto saxophonist and flutist Bud Shank, who lived until this year in Port Townsend, and still directs Centrum's Port Townsend Jazz Festival.

Brown also was instrumental in the '70s in recharging the career of Seattle vocalist Ernestine Anderson, producing a comeback album for her at Concord Records. In 2000, Brown released an album recorded near Seattle's historic Jackson Street jazz district, "Live At Starbucks" (Telarc).

For the past decade, Brown has shepherded many young musicians into jazz, notably pianist and vocalist Diana Krall, as well as pianists Benny Green, Geoff Keezer and Fuller. To the end, Brown maintained a full international schedule. He was slated to to perform later this summer in Japan.

Brown is survived by his wife, Cecelia, and a son, Ray, Jr.

Paul de Barros: 206-464-3247 or pdebarros@seattletimes.com