Ray Brown Papers
name: label: Creator
content: Brown, Ray (Jazz musician)
label: Composer
content: Allen, Steve, 1921-2000
label: Musician
content: Clarke, Kenny, 1914-1985
label: Musician
content: Clayton, John
label: Musician
content: Ellis, Herb
label: Singer
content: Fitzgerald, Ella, 1917-1996
label: Producer
content: Granz, Norman
label: Musician
content: Harris, Gene, 1933-2000
label: Musician
content: Jackson, Milt
label: Musician
content: Lewis, John, 1920-2001
label: Musician
content: Peterson, Oscar, 1925-
label: Musician
content: Shank, Bud
topic: label: Topic
content: African Americans -- Music
label: Topic
content: Music -- Performance
label: Topic
content: Music -- Songs
label: Topic
content: Musicians
label: Topic
content: Musicians -- United States
label: Topic
content: Jazz musicians -- United States
label: Topic
content: African American music -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Jazz
label: Topic
content: African American musicians
label: Topic
content: Music -- 20th century
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated to the Archives Center in 2015 by Ray Brown's widow, Cecilia Brown.
creator: label: Creator
content: Brown, Ray (Jazz musician)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Ray Brown Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: 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.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Raymond Matthews Brown was an African American musician (double bass and cello) born on October 13, 1926 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.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.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 8 Cubic feet (8 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1940-2010
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1362
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographic prints
label: Type
content: Posters
label: Type
content: Clippings
label: Type
content: Music
label: Type
content: Audiotapes
label: Type
content: Awards
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Business records
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: 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
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Kayla Foney, intern, November-December 2015 and Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, November-December 2015.
bibliography: label: Bibliography
content: Editors, Biography.com. "Ray Brown Biography."  -- Biography --  A&E Networks Television, undated. Web. 04 December 2015.

"Ray Brown."  -- Concord Music Group --  Concord Music Group, undated. Web. 04 December 2015.

"Ray Brown Trio."  -- Concord Music Group --  Concord Music Group, undated. Web. 04 December 2015.

Merrill, Joan. "Jazz Profiles from NPR - Ray Brown."  -- NPR -- , undated. Web. 04 December 2015.

Panken, Ted. "Remembering Ray Brown (1926-2002)." Jazz.com, 2002. Web. 03 December 2015.

Jung, Fred. "A Fireside Chat With Ray Brown."  -- Jazz Weekly -- , undated. Web. 04 December 2015.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographic prints
label: Genre/Form
content: Posters
label: Genre/Form
content: Posters -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings
label: Genre/Form
content: Music -- Manuscripts
label: Genre/Form
content: Audiotapes
label: Genre/Form
content: Awards
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Business records -- 20th century
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: 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.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History


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