The label "legend" is thrown around too liberally today, but the 2002 Hal Leonard Jazz Series kicked off Saturday night with a musician who truly deserved that billing: bass player Ray Brown.
Brown has been playing bass for more than 60 years, performing with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Billy Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald (to whom he was once married) and other legends of the music world.
{INSERT_RELATED}He performed with drummer Karriem Riggins and pianist Larry Fuller at The Pabst Theater Saturday as The Ray Brown Trio. Riggins and Fuller might not be as well known as some of the musicians Brown has played with, but they demonstrated they are very talented.
The group started with some Count Basie music, with "Little Darlin." They then moved to Michel Le Grand.
Brown frequently joked about his age, 76, but also showed he can cut across generations in jazz. "When you're my age, and steeped in Basie and Ellington, you go to rehearsal, and the young dude (Riggins) in the band, says, ‘when are we going to play some funk. So, here it is'," Brown joked before playing a fast-paced funky song that had Riggins hustling to keep up on the drums.
After the song, Brown told the sellout crowd, "When a man my age plays that fast, you know the next song will be real slow." The trio then ended the first half of the show with some beautiful renditions of Ellington music.
In the second set of the show, the trio played a little known Cole Porter song, called "Everything I Love." Fuller was featured in a sweet rendition of "But Not For Me."
Brown stood out in what he called a "gumbo" song he wrote after watching a New Orleans funeral. "That's what they will play when I go," he said. "But, not for a while yet." The trio also was outstanding in playing "Tanga," a song from Brown's "old boss," Gillespie.
After telling the audience, it was getting "past my bedtime," Brown returned to his Pittsburgh roots and ended the show with a great blues tune.
All these songs were done in a casual, smooth style reminiscent of many of the greats of jazz. Brown even would stop periodically to wipe his face with a towel, much like Satchmo and others of that era.
To watch Brown's hands move on the bass is to observe true artistry of motion. Especially on the slower songs, and the blues piece, he got an amazing range of tones from his instrument.
Brown has played Milwaukee before, with the famous Oscar Peterson trio in the 1940s and '50s and in 1995, as part of the Hal Leonard series.
It is hard to imagine that the series could have kicked off its 10th anniversary season with a more appropriate artist, or one that more truly deserves the label of a legend.
The second concert in the series will feature the Stefon Harris Quartet on Sat., March 9.
