World-known jazz and blues musician Ray Brown Jr.
He is the son of jazz queen Ella Fitzgerald and the legendary jazz bassist Ray Brown. Born in New York City and raised in afamous family, where Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra and many others were regular visitors during his childhood.
Though he grew up inundated with jazz, Ray’s soul was in rock’n’roll and rhythm and blues. Ray was moved by the infectious rhythms of Little Richard and Bo Diddley and the awe-inspiring vocals of Jackie Wilson, James Brown and Sam Cooke.
By age ten he was studying piano and four years later began a life-long love affair with the drums. When Ray’s family moved to California, Ray Sr. arranged for his son to study with respected veteran, Bill Douglass and later with Los Angeles icon, Chuck Flores. His chops developed quickly and Ray soon made the transition from being a popular singer/drummer at private parties to the challenging world of live club gigs.
Upon migrating north to Seattle, while studying with another drummer, Bill Coleman Sr., Ray continued to forge a reputation as a must-see nightclub performer and began finding himself as a writer and composer.
Since the end of the 1980s, for 15 years, Brown toured the Pacific Northwest, Canada, Alaska, Japan, Korea and Guam in bands and as a single artist and performing in tours for the United States Department of Defense. He’s appeared across the U.S. at numerous prestigious clubs including an extended five-night-a-week engagement at Le Bistro Theatre at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. Reflecting on his travels, Ray notes, “I love to tour. I’ve been able to see a lot of the world and I absolutely enjoyed being… with different types of people, different cultures…It’s broadened who I am as a person…“. In this way, Ray Brown Jr. gradually conquered the entire Pacific Northwest region, and then other parts of the world.
In 2001, Brown displayed his versatile voice and other talents and recorded his debut album “Slow Down for Love” on SRI Jazz, which reached the top 50 of the Gavin Report. His second album, “Committed from the Heart”, was released in 2003. His sound has been describedas an adult contemporary pop sound layered with R&B. Brown wrote and arranged all the songs on both albums. 2007’s “Stand By Me“ was crafted as a showcase for some of his favorite jazz standards mixed with a few jazz arrangements of rock classics such as “Oh Pretty Woman“. In September 2008, Ray Brown Jr. released a duets album, “Friends and Family“, produced by Shelly Liebowitz, on SRI Jazz, a division of SRI Records. It was a new chapter in Ray’s extraordinary career. Vocal artists on this album include Jane Monheit, Melba Moore, James Moody, Maria Muldaur, Dr. John, Dionne Warwick, Freda Payne, Sophie B. Hawkins, Paul Williams, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Dave Somerville, Kim Hoyer, and Sally Kellerman. Also included on the album is Brown’s second daughter who went by the stage name “Haylee“ singing “A-Tisket, A-Tasket“, which was made famous by her grandmother. In addition, a rare recording in a live version of “How High the Moon” can be heard in this album, which Ray performs with his legendary parents.
Ray Brown Jr. is an unsurpassed singer who has managed to find his own unique voice in the jazz world. Today Ray is actively performing all over the world, making us fall in love with his magical timbre of voice from the first notes and impressing us with his uniqueness!