Raymond Harry Brown

Raymond Harry Brown (aka Ray Brown) (b. 1946) is an American composer, arranger, trumpet player, and jazz educator.^[1] He has performed as trumpet player and arranged music for Stan Kenton (early 1970s), Bill Watrous, Bill Berry, Frank Capp – Nat Pierce (Juggernaut Big Band), and the Full Faith and Credit Big Band.^[2]

Brown joined Kenton in September 1971, succeeding Gary Lee Pack [b. 1950; Director of Jazz Studies (retired), University of Southern Maine], holding the jazz trumpet chair and serving as an improv clinician. The Kenton trumpet section included Mike Vax,^[3] Jay Saunders, and Dennis Noday. Brown also contributed arrangements for Kenton, including Mi Burrito and Neverbird.^[4] He remained with the Kenton Orchestra until November 1972.

Before joining the Kenton Orchestra, Brown had served as arranger and trumpeter with the Studio Band of the The United States Army Field Band at Fort Meade, Maryland (1968–71). His tenure with the Army Band and Kenton coincided closely with that of Jay Saunders — trumpet player, and jazz educator, who, while with the Kenton Orchestra, eventually played lead trumpet.

Brown also has performed with Mundell Lowe, Leroy Vinnegar, Ray Brown (jazz double-bassist), Thad Jones, Jimmy Heath, Steve Gadd, and Billy Hart.

Brown conducted the recording session of the Roy Hargrove Quintet entitled “Roy Hargrove with Strings, Moment to Moment,” released May 2000 on Verve. He has appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival frequently as conductor of his wife Susan Cahill Brown's Monterey Jazz Festival Chamber Orchestra in collaboration with Charlie Haden, Kenny Barron, Michael Brecker, Ralph Towner, Gary Burton, and Terence Blanchard.

Brown currently leads his own big band, the Great Big Band, which has performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival, the San Jose Jazz Festival, the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival, the Lake Tahoe Music Festival, as well as jazz venues in the San Francisco Bay area.

Ray is currently on the faculty of Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, teaching Jazz improvisation, arranging, and Jazz ensembles.

Formal education

• 1964 — Graduated Freeport High School (New York)
• 1968 — Bachelor of Music, Ithaca College School of Music (attended 1964-68)
• 19?? — Master of Science, C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University
• 19?? — Arranging lessons from Willie Maiden
• 19?? — Arranging lessons from Manny Albam
• 19?? — Arranging lessons from Rayburn Wright (1922–1990)
• 19?? — Arranging lessons from Hank Levy
• 19?? — Arranging lessons from Glenn Earl Brown (Ray's father)
• 19??-?? — Four summers, Lake Shore Music Camp, headed by Ray's father, Glenn Earl Brown

Early career

• 1968-71 — Arranger and trumpet player for the Studio Band of The United States Army Field Band, Fort Meade, Maryland^[5]
• Sept. 1971 – Nov. 1972 — trumpet player (jazz chair) & improv clinician with the Stan Kenton Orchestra
• 1973 — Became a member of ASCAP
• 1973-74 — trumpet player for Bill Watrous Band in New York
• 1973-75 — Led own rehearsal band in New York City
• Mar. 1975 — Grant: Jazz, Category I, National Endowment for the Arts (to write a composition for the rehearsal band)^[6]
• 1974-75 — Teacher of improv. in nine New Jersey schools through a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts
• 1974-75 — Faculty member (teaching arranging, improv, brass), Five Towns College, Merrick, NY
• 1974-79 — Played trumpet with the New York Orchestra, Thad Jones, Joe Newman, Ray Brown (the bassist), Leroy Vinnegar, Mundell Lowe, Bill Berry (William Richard Berry) Big Band
• 1980 — Nat Pierce & Frankie Capp Big Band

Musical family

Ray's wife, Sue Brown (b. 1949, New York),^[7] is a violinist and teacher of strings – violin, viola, chamber music, and orchestra. Susan holds a Bachelor of Music from Ithaca College (1971) and a Master of Fine Arts from Sarah Lawrence College (1974), where she studied with Dorothy DeLay. She also did post grad work at the University of Colorado (1975). Ray and Sue were married Aug 26, 1973, and together, they have three daughters, one of whom, Karin, is a violinist and is married to cellist Daniel Levitov. Karin earned degrees in music from Oberlin Conservatory of Music (1998) and Juilliard. Daniel is a member of the preparatory faculty at the Peabody Institute.

Ray, born 1946 in Oceanside, New York, grew up in Freeport, New York. He has three older brothers, Glenn Edward Brown (the oldest), Stephen Charles Brown, Roger Brown and a younger sister, Jeanne De Martino.

Steve is a jazz guitarist, composer, arranger, and a professor of music as director of jazz studies at the Ithaca College School of Music (retired 2008). One of Steve's many life achievements is that he formalized jazz studies in 1968 at Ithaca College School of Music, a long-standing, well-known music institution within a well-known liberal arts college that was founded in 1892 solely as a conservatory of music.

Glenn, Steve, and Ray all hold music degrees from Ithaca College – Steve: Bachelor of Music (1964) and a Master of Music (1968); Ray: Bachelor of Music (1968). Ray's nephew (Steve's son) – Miles Brown – is a jazz bassist, performer, and music educator.

Ray's father, Glenn Earl Brown (1914–1965;^[8] 1936 graduate of Ithaca College School of Music), was the District Music Supervisor of Public Schools for Long Beach, New York. He was also director of bands at Long Beach Jr. Sr. High School from 1938 to 1965. As a pioneer in jazz education at the scholastic level,^[9] he introduced stage bands to Long Beach public schools in 1939.^[10] He also ran a music camp — Lake Shore Music Score — at Lake Winnipesaukee, Center Harbor, New Hampshire. Glenn Brown had been, for more than 14 years, a marimba soloist with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra.^[11]

Ray's mother, Marie Brown (née Ward) (1916–2002), taught English at Boardman Junior High School in Oceanside for 28 years, where, before retiring from the Oceanside School District in 1982, she served as curriculum coordinator and English department chairwoman.^[12][13] She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Ithaca College School of Music in 1935, where she played piano, saxophone, and clarinet. She also held a Masters in English from Hofstra University.^[14]

Selected compositions/arrangements

Compositions/arrangements for the Stan Kenton Orchestra^[15]

• Call Me Mister (Kenton Chart Nos. 565 & 1168)
• Hit and Run – EP305104 © 1972 V1718P086 (Kenton Chart No. 488)
• Is There Anything Still There? – EP304505 © 1972 V1718P086 (Kenton Chart No. 800)
• Mi Burrito – EP354892 © 1973 V1718P086 (Kenton Chart No. 975)
• Neverbird (Kenton Chart No. 564)

Performed by Mike Vax and the All Star Big Band (Feb 22, 2008?)

Arrangement for the Stan Kenton Orchestra

• Angel Eyes, Matt Dennis & Tom Adair, arr Ray Brown

Other compositions/arrangements

• Route 81 North (arrangement)
• Clyde's Glides
• Double Fault Blues
• AfterThoughts
• The Opener
• My Man Willie
• Tomas Gatos
• Arthur Author
• Two Rare T-Bones
• Procrastination City – copyright no. EP354893 © 1973 V1718P086
• Big D and Me – copyright no. PA0000398365 © 1988
• Blues for the two K's – copyright no. PAu000444456 © 1982
• Got the time? – PA0000398368 © 1985
• Haziness – copyright no. PA0000250024 © 1984
• Hop, skip, and a Jump – copyright no. PAu000313614 © 1981

Performed by the Silicon Valley Repertory Jazz Orchestra, Recorded Feb 2010

• Little Jeannette Leigh – copyright no. PA0000250023 © 1983
• No Timeouts Left – copyright no. PA0000398361 © 1988
• Spectrum – copyright no. PA0000250025 © 1984
• Three to go – copyright no. PA0000398367 © 1985
• Straightahead City
• Bossa Barbara by Steve Brown, arr. Ray Brown
• Embraceable You/Quasimodo - Gershwin / Charlie Parker, arr. Ray Brown
• The Telephone Song - Music by Menescal, Portuguese words by Boscoli, English words by Gimbel, arr. Ray Brown
• Bittersweet - Willie Maiden, transcribed by Ray Brown
• Our Love Is Here To Stay - George Gershwin, arr. Ray Brown
• Del Sasser - Sam Jones, arr. Ray Brown
• Kayak - Kenny Wheeler, arr. Ray Brown
• Barbara - Horace Silver, arr. Ray Brown
• I Could Write a Book - Rodgers & Hart, arr. Ray Brown
• The Thumb - Wes Montgomery, arr. Ray Brown
• The Ballad of Thelonious Monk - Jimmy Rowles, arr. Ray Brown
• Stella By Starlight - Victor Young, arr. Ray Brown
• I.C. Light - Ray Brown (commissioned for the retirement of Steve Brown, March 2008)
• Turn Out The Stars, by Bill Evans, arr. Ray Brown
• Louie’s Prima

Selected discography

As a member (jazz trumpet/flugelhorn) of the Stan Kenton Orchestra

Arrangement recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra

As a member of the Full Faith & Credit Big Band

Other recordings

Other published works

• Brown, Ray. An Introduction to Jazz Improvisation, Piedmont Music (1975)

Selected film- and videoography

• The Music of Stan Kenton (film for television) (note: 1969 is the date given in some resources,^[17] but, the personnel suggest 1971)

Production director: Stanley Dorfman

1. Malaga, arr Bill Holman
2. Intermission Riff, by Steve Graham, Ray Wetzel
3. MacArthur Park, by Jimmy Webb

Mike Vax, Dennis Noday, Jay Saunders, Ray Brown, Joe Marcinkiewicz, trumpet; Dick Shearer, Mike Jamieson, Fred Carter, Mike Wallace, Phil Herring, trombone; Quin Davis, Richard Torres, Kim Frizell, Willie Maiden, Chuck Carter, reeds; Stan Kenton, piano; John Worster, acoustic double bass; John Von Ohlen, drums; Ramon Lopez, Latin percussion

• Festival de Jazz de Montreux, Switzerland 1979 (film for television)

Count Basie and his Orchestra: Sonny Cohn, Pete Minger, Ray Brown, Nolan Smith (aka Nolan Shaheed), trumpet, fluegel horn; Melvin Wanzo, Booty Wood, Dennis Wilson, trombone; Bill Hughes, bass trombone; Bobby Plater, Danny Turner, Eric Dixon, Kenny Hing, reeds; Charlie Fowlkes, baritone sax; Count Basie, Paul Smith, piano; Freddie Green, guitar; John Clayton, acoustic double bass; Butch Miles, drums; Ella Fitzgerald, Dennis Roland, vocal^[18]

• Swing Shift, 1984 film (USA)

Music by: Patrick Williams; music orchestrated by: Billy May, Michael Moores, Jack Hayes; soundtrack personnel: Conte Candoli, Bob Findley, Dick Hurwitz, Ray Brown, Bill Berry, trumpet; Alan Kaplan, George Bohanon, Buster Cooper, trombone; Marshall Royal, Lanny Morgan, alto sax; Pete Christlieb, Bill Green, tenor sax; Jimmy Rowles, piano; John Pisano, guitar; Monty Budwig, acoustic double bass; Frank Capp, drums

• A Tribute to Count Basie, filmed at Kan-i Hoken Hall, Tokyo, November 11, 1989 (film for television)

Personnel: Harry "Sweets" Edison, Joe Newman, Snooky Young, Al Aarons, Ray Brown, trumpet; Al Grey, Benny Powell, Grover Mitchell, Michael Grey, trombone; Marshall Royal, Curtis Peagler, alto sax; Frank Wess, tenor sax, flute; Billy Mitchell, tenor sax; Bill Ramsay, baritone sax; Ronnell Bright, piano; Ted Dunbar, guitar; Eddie Jones, acoustic double bass; Gregg Fields, drums.

• Fujitsu Concord Jazz Festival, filmed at Kan-i Hoken Hall, Japan, November 11, 1990 (film for television)

Personnel: Ray Brown, Pete Minger, Joe Newman, Snooky Young, trumpet; Arthur Baron, Grover Mitchell, Dennis Wilson, Douglas Purviance, trombone; Bill Ramsay, Curtis Peagler, alto sax; Frank Wess, tenor sax, flute; Billy Mitchell, tenor sax; Babe Clarke, baritone sax; Tee Curson, piano; Ted Dunbar, guitar; Eddie Jones, acoustic double bass; Dennis Mackrel, drums, Mel Torme, vocal, drums.^[19]

Honors and awards

Ithaca College School of Music

Brown family who studied at the Ithaca College School of Music: As part of the Ithaca College School of Music expansion (2001), a chamber jazz room was added as a gift from Steve McCluski ’74 and Kim Joslyn McCluski ’74 in honor of the Brown family. A plaque there honors seven members of the Brown family who graduated from Ithaca College:

1) Glenn Brown (1914 – 1965) — Ithaca College School of Music (IC) 1936 (Ray's father)

2) Marie Brown (née Ward; 1916 – 2002) — IC 1935 (Ray's mother)

3) Stephen Charles Brown — Ithaca College (IC) Bachelor of Music 1964; Master of Music 1968 (Ray's second oldest brother)

4) Barbara Katz Brown — IC 1974; 1975 (Steve's wife)

5) Ray Brown — IC 1968

6) Sue Brown — IC 1971 (Ray's wife)

7) Glenn Edward Brown — IC 1959 (Ray's oldest brother)

14th Annual Gail Rich Awards — Cultural Council Associates (of the Santa Cruz County arts community) (Jan 26, 2010)

• Ray and Sue Brown were two of seven being honored — they were being honored for their creative work as music teachers^[20]

Video clip of Sue and Ray speaking at the awards ceremony (fast forward to 4:13)

See also

• List of jazz arrangers

External links

• Ray Brown's profile at Cabrillo College
• Review of Ray Brown's Great Big Band recording
• website for Ray Brown's Great Big Band

References