Leroy Vinnegar

Leroy Vinnegar (July 13, 1928 – August 3, 1999) was an American jazz bassist.

Born in Indianapolis, the self-taught Vinnegar established his reputation in Los Angeles during the 1950s and 1960s. His trademark was the rhythmic "walking" bass line, a steady series of ascending or descending notes, and it brought him the nickname "The Walker". Besides his jazz work, he also appeared on a number of soundtracks and pop albums, notably Van Morrison's 1972 album, Saint Dominic's Preview.
He recorded extensively as both a leader and sideman. He came to public attention in the 1950s as a result of recording with Lee Konitz, André Previn, Stan Getz, Shorty Rogers, Chet Baker, Shelly Manne, Joe Castro and Serge Chaloff. He played bass on Previn and Manne's My Fair Lady album, one of the most successful jazz records ever produced. He also performed on another of jazz's biggest hit albums, Eddie Harris and Les McCann's Swiss Movement, released in 1969.

He moved to Portland, Oregon in 1986. In 1995, the Oregon State Legislature honored him by proclaiming May 1 Leroy Vinnegar Day.
Vinnegar died from a heart attack, at the age of 71, on August 3, 1999, in a hospital in Portland.

Discography

Leroy Walks! (1957; Original Jazz Classics)
Leroy Walks Again!! (1962; Fantasy Records)
Jazz's Great "Walker" (1964; Vee Jay)
Glass of Water (1973; Legend Records)
The Kid (1974; PBR International) (2005; Q-Tape Records, France)
Walkin' the Basses (1992; Contemporary Records)

Ray Brown

Raymond Matthews Brown (October 13, 1926 – July 2, 2002) was an influential American jazz double bassist, known for extensive work with Oscar Peterson among many others.
Ray Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and had piano lessons from the age of eight. After noticing how many pianists attended his high school, he thought of taking up the trombone, but was unable to afford one. With a vacancy in the high school jazz orchestra, he took up the upright bass.

A major early influence on Brown's bass playing was the bassist in the Duke Ellington band, Jimmy Blanton. As a young man Ray Brown became steadily more well known in the Pittsburgh jazz scene, with his first experiences playing in bands with the Jimmy Hinsley Sextet and the Snookum Russell band. After graduating from high school, hearing stories about the burgeoning jazz scene on 52nd Street, in New York City, he bought a one way ticket to New York. Arriving in New York at the age of twenty, he met up with Hank Jones, with whom he had previously worked, and was introduced to Dizzy Gillespie, who was looking for a bass player. Gillespie hired Brown on the spot and he soon played with such established musicians as Art Tatum and Charlie Parker.
From 1946 to 1951 he played in Gillespie's band. Brown, along with the vibraphonist Milt Jackson, drummer Kenny Clarke, and the pianist John Lewis formed the rhythm section of the Gillespie band. Lewis, Clarke and Jackson eventually formed the Modern Jazz Quartet. Brown became acquainted with singer Ella Fitzgerald when she joined the Gillespie band as a special attraction for a tour of the southern United States in 1947. The two married that year, and together they adopted a child born to Fitzgerald's half-sister Frances, whom they christened Ray Brown, Jr. Fitzgerald and Brown divorced in 1952.

Around this time Brown was also appearing in Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts, organised by Norman Granz. It was at a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert in 1949 that Brown first worked with the jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, in whose trio Brown would play from 1951 to 1966. Between 1957 and 1959, he appeared on Blossom Dearie's first five recordings for Verve Records. After leaving the Trio he became a manager and promoter as well as a performer. In 1966, he settled in Los Angeles where he was in high demand working for various television show orchestras. He also accompanied some of the leading artists of the day, including Frank Sinatra, Billy Eckstine, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, and Nancy Wilson. He also managed his former musical partners, the Modern Jazz Quartet, as well as a young Quincy Jones, produced some shows for the Hollywood Bowl, wrote jazz bass instruction books, and developed a jazz cello. In Los Angeles he composed music for films and television shows.
From 1974 to 1982, Brown performed and recorded a series of albums with guitarist Laurindo Almeida, saxophonist and flutist Bud Shank, and drummer Shelly Manne (replaced by Jeff Hamilton after 1977) under the name The L.A. Four. He also joined up with Milt Jackson again to record the classic Jackson, Johnson, Brown & Company (1983), featuring Jackson and Brown with J. J. Johnson on trombone, Tom Ranier on piano, guitarist John Collins, and drummer Roy McCurdy.

In the 1980s and 1990s he led his own trios and continued to refine his bass playing style. In his later years he recorded and toured extensively with pianist Gene Harris. In the early 1980s, Ray Brown met Diana Krall in a restaurant in Nanaimo, British Columbia.[4] According to Jeff Hamilton, in an interview recorded on the "Diana Krall Live in Rio" DVD, he first heard Diana Krall play at a workshop and, impressed with her piano skills (she was not yet singing) introduced her to bassist John Clayton. Hamilton and Clayton both encouraged Krall to move to Los Angeles to study under Ray Brown and others. In 1990, he teamed up with pianist Bobby Enriquez and drummer Al Foster, for Enriquez's album, The Wildman Returns. During 1990 - 1993 the "Legendary Oscar Peterson Trio" reunited, with Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis and Ray Brown, with either Bobby Durham or Jeff Hamilton added on drums. Albums of this group earned no less than 4 Grammy Awards. In May 1993 this group ended, while Oscar Peterson suffered a severe stroke.
Ray played for a time with the "Quartet" with Monty Alexander, Milt Jackson and Mickey Roker. After that he toured again with his own trio, with several young pianists like Benny Green, Geoff Keeezer and Larry Fuller. The last edition of the Ray Brown Trio was that with pianist Larry Fuller and drummer Karriem Riggins. With that trio he continued to perform until his death in 2002; he died in his sleep, after having played golf, before a show in Indianapolis. Probably his last recorded show was in Europe, during the Bern Jazz Festival, on May 4, 2002, with Larry Fuller and Karriem Riggins.

Discography

New Sounds in Modern Music (1946), Savoy Records
Bass Hit! (1956), Norgran Records
The Poll Winners (1957) with Barney Kessel, Shelly Manne, Contemporary
This Is Ray Brown (1958), Polygram
Jazz Cello (1960), Verve Records
Ray Brown with the All-Star Big Band - Guest Soloist: Cannonball Adderley (1962), Verve Records
Much in Common with Milt Jackson (1962), Polygram
Ray Brown / Milt Jackson (1965), Verve Records
This One's for Blanton (Duke Ellington, Ray Brown) (1972), Original Jazz
Hot Tracks (Herb Ellis and the Ray Brown Sextet) (1975), Concord Jazz
Brown's Bag (1975), Concord Jazz
Overseas Special (1975), Concord Jazz
The Big 3 (1975), Pablo Records
As Good as It Gets (1977), Concord Jazz
Something for Lester (1977), (Japanese)
Quadrant (1977) with Milt Jackson, Mickey Roker, Joe Pass, Original Jazz Classics
Rockin' In Rhythm (1977) with Hank Jones, Jimmie Smith, Concord Jazz
Tasty[1] (1978) with Jimmy Rowles, Concord Jazz
Tasty! (1979), Concord Jazz
Live at the Concord Jazz Festival (1979), Concord Jazz
Echoes from West (1981), Atlas
Ray Brown, vol 3 (1982), Japanese
Milt Jackson - Ray Brown Jam (1982), Pablo Records
Jackson, Johnson, Brown & Company (1983), Original Jazz Classics
Soular Energy (1984), Groove Note/Concord Jazz
One O'Clock Jump (1984), Verve Records
Bye Bye Blackbird (1985), Paddle Wheel
Don't Forget the Blues (1985), Concord Jazz
The Red Hot Ray Brown Trio[2] (1985), Concord Jazz
Breakin' Out (1987) with George Shearing, Marvin Smith, Concord Jazz
Two Bass Hits (1988), Capri
Bam Bam Bam[2] (1988), Concord Jazz
Georgia on My Mind (1989), LOB
Listen Here! (1989) with Gene Harris Quartet, Concord Jazz
After Hours (1989)
Uptown (1990)
Moore Makes 4 (1990), Concord Jazz
Summer Wind: Live at the Loa (1990), Concord Jazz
3 Dimensional: The Ray Brown Trio (1991), Concord Jazz
Old Friends (1992)
Kiri Sidetracks: The Jazz Album (1992)
Bassface (1993), Telarc
Black Orpheus (1994), Evidence
Don't Get Sassy (1994), Telarc
Some of My Best Friends Are...The Piano Players (1994), Telarc
Seven Steps to Heaven (1995), Telarc
Introducing Kristin Korb with the Ray Brown Trio (1996), Telarc
Some of My Best Friends Are...The Sax Players (1996), Telarc
Live at Scullers (1996), Telarc
SuperBass (1997), Telarc
Some of My Best Friends Are...Singers (1998), Telarc
Triple Play (1998), Telarc
Summertime (Ray Brown Trio, Ulf Wakenius) (1998), Telarc
Moonlight in Vermont (1998), Prevue
Christmas Songs with The Ray Brown Trio (1999), Telarc
Some of My Best Friends Are... The Trumpet Players (2000), Telarc
Blues for Jazzo (2000), Prevue
The Duo Sessions (2000) with Jimmy Rowles, Concord Jazz
Live at Starbucks (2001), Telarc
SuperBass 2 (2001), Telarc
In the Pocket (Herb Ellis/Ray Brown Sextet) (2002), Concord Jazz
Some of My Best Friends Are ... Guitarists (2002), Telarc
Triple Scoop (2002), Concord Jazz
Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, & Russell Malone (2002), Telarc
Straight Ahead (2003) with Monty Alexander, Herb Ellis, Concord Jazz
Walk On (2003), Telarc
As Good as It Gets[1] (2000), Concord Jazz
Live from New York to Tokyo (2003), Concord Jazz
Bassics: The Best of the Ray Brown Trio 1997-2000 (2006), Concord Jazz

Milt Hinton

Milton John "Milt" Hinton (June 23, 1910 – December 19, 2000), "the dean of jazz bass players," was an American jazz double bassist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge".
Hinton was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he resided until age eleven when he moved to Chicago, Illinois. He attended Wendell Phillips High School and Crane Junior College. While attending these schools, he learned first to play the violin, and later bass horn, tuba, cello and the double bass. As a young violinist out of school, he found gainful employment as a bassist. He later recounted in interviews, released in 1990 on Old Man Time, how this prompted him to switch to double bass.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he worked as a freelance musician in Chicago. During this time, he worked with famous jazz musicians such as Jabbo Smith, Eddie South, and Art Tatum. In 1936, he joined a band led by Cab Calloway. Members of this band included Chu Berry, Cozy Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, Illinois Jacquet, Jonah Jones, Ike Quebec, Ben Webster, and Danny Barker.
Hinton possessed a formidable technique and was equally adept at bowing, pizzicato, and "slapping," a technique for which he became famous while playing with the big band of Cab Calloway from 1936 to 1951. Unusually for a double bass player, Hinton was frequently given the spotlight by Calloway, taking virtuose bass solos in tunes like "Pluckin' the Bass."
Hinton played a rare Gofriller Double Bass during his latter career. The bass was in pieces in a cellar in Italy and a musical agent arranged the purchase from the family for Hinton. Hinton in his autobiography "Bass Line" described the tone as magnificent and said it was one of the reasons for his long success in the New York recording studios in the 1950s, and 1960s.

He later became a television staff musician, working regularly on shows by Jackie Gleason and later Dick Cavett. His work can be heard on the Branford Marsalis album Trio Jeepy.
Hinton twice received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts for his work as a jazz educator: a music fellowship in 1977 and an NEA Jazz Master award in 1993.
According to a search of The Jazz Discography, Hinton is the most-recorded jazz musician of all time, having appeared on 1,174 recording sessions.
Also a fine photographer, Hinton documented many of the great jazz musicians via photographs he took over the course of his career. Hinton was one of the best friends of jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong.
Hinton died in Queens, New York City, New York at age 90.

Discography

1955: Milt Hinton Bethlehem High Fidelity
1955: Basses Loaded
1955: Milt Hinton Quartet Bethlehem High Fidelity
1956 : The Rhythm Section Epic
1975: Here Swings the Judge Progressive
1977: The Trio (Chiaroscuro Records)
1984: Back to Bass-ics Progressive
1984: The Judge's Decision Exposure
1990: Old Man Time Chiaroscuro
1994: The Trio: 1994 Chiaroscuro
1994: Laughing at Life