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BEATSTREET
Ray Brown Trio: Summertime
Telarc/ Music Gallery
CD, Rs. 575
Recorded five years before Ray Brown (1926-2002) died, here's an album that shows why he was the most recorded jazz artiste of all time. Brown played bass behind a range of leaders from Dizzy Gillespie to Oscar Peterson, while leading his own groups and jamming with other leaders from time to time. Here his trio, comprising him alongside Geoff Keezer (piano) and Gregory Hutchinson (drums), is augmented by the presence of Ulf Wakenius on guitar, with Brown taking on the additional mantle (unusual for a small group) of arranger.
Brown modestly keeps his own instrument, one of the quietest in jazz, in the background, but the attentive listener can hear him working busily, playing a melody in counterpoint to Wakenius or Keezer when they are taking charge of the theme or improvising a solo. Wakenius takes the theme on most of the numbers, while he and Keezer share the bulk of the solos. Whenever he's in the lead his sound combined with those of Keezer and Hutchinson almost obscures Brown (but not quite), but when Keezer is in the spotlight the drumming is quieter, Wakenius is silent, and Brown is softly booming in the background.
The eleven tracks are mostly pop and jazz standards with a Brown original thrown in at the end. The title track, a hoary favourite, "It's Only a Paper Moon", "Reunion Blues", and "Honeysuckle Rose", the last three having delectable solos by Brown alongside the others, stand out in an excellent menu.
JAZZEBEL
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