Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Double Bass Ray Brown's bass
- Thread starter davechamb
- Start date
Jake deVilliers
Commercial User
- May 24, 2006
- 6,349
- 607
- Disclosures
- Owner of The Bass Spa, String Repairman at Long & McQuade Vancouver
Thanks for posting those Dave! Those of us in the far-flung reaches of the country won't be able to drop by and see it in the flesh... 
Hello,
I'm just replying to this post because it's the only way I could figure out how to contact you. I wanted to say thank you again (a million times if I could) for letting me play Ray's bass after the Perlman concert. It made my trip to say the least, but I can't say well enough how thrilled I was. You made this islander very happy! I'll never forget it.
Patrick N
I'm just replying to this post because it's the only way I could figure out how to contact you. I wanted to say thank you again (a million times if I could) for letting me play Ray's bass after the Perlman concert. It made my trip to say the least, but I can't say well enough how thrilled I was. You made this islander very happy! I'll never forget it.
Patrick N
Nearly 48 years ago I heard the Oscar Peterson Trio LP of Gershwin tunes and decided that bass was for me. I approached my first teacher at the music store where he was working and said, "Are you MR. Denny? I want to have bass lessons and I want to sound like Ray Brown". He laughed about that every time I saw him for the rest of his life. I very quickly discovered that I was no Ray Brown and never would be. I was always going to be a much better orchestral player. I still have and treasure that old vinyl LP!!
The height of the E string is so high because the E stop is open on the extension. When you are dealing with a string as long as the C, it rolls a lot when bowed and needs excessive clearance to prevent buzzes.
It has been a real pleasure to read this thread. I knew Murray Lauder from the O'Keefe Centre Orchestra back in the 70s. He was a real gentleman as well as a musician's musician. He was very supportive of young musicians as were most of the members of that Orchestra.
I guess Murray's final act with that bass was to get it into the hands of another true gentleman and fabulous musician, Dave Longenecker who I knew before I knew Murray. (Dave was a teenager then but he has matured since those days as some bass players do!!!)
Anyhow, if we are indeed the caretakers of our instruments Ray Brown's bass is still in good hands.
Dave, I'll be calling you to try your bass and maybe 7 or 8 electrics too!
I guess Murray's final act with that bass was to get it into the hands of another true gentleman and fabulous musician, Dave Longenecker who I knew before I knew Murray. (Dave was a teenager then but he has matured since those days as some bass players do!!!)
Anyhow, if we are indeed the caretakers of our instruments Ray Brown's bass is still in good hands.
Dave, I'll be calling you to try your bass and maybe 7 or 8 electrics too!
I posted the first message in this thread ages ago and I'm amazed at the response, especially from Mr. Longenecker. My name is also Dave (Chamberlain) and I am a London-based mostly-jazz player. I'm a lifelong fan of Ray, although I never got to meet him in person, sadly.
I spent a lot of time in my younger days transcribing Ray's lines, marvelling at how he was able to produce that devasting sound with Dizzy's big band. (I play some of those charts now with a big band and it's hard to be heard, even with an amp!) I had always suspected that Ray's bass must have been a loud instrument and everything I've read here has confirmed it. I wish I had known of its whereabouts when I was passing through Toronto a couple of years ago for the International Jazz Educators' Conference. I would have LOVED to have tried it out!
Interestingly, there is a London-based luthier called Lawrence Dixon who has been commisioned to build a recreation of that bass to serve as the house bass at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. I spoke to Lawrence and he seemed to be of the opinion that Ray's bass was an Amati, although I don't think he has actually seen it first hand.
Does anyone know any more about Ray's second-fiddle (if you'll excuse the pun), the Silvestre? Where does it now live?
I spent a lot of time in my younger days transcribing Ray's lines, marvelling at how he was able to produce that devasting sound with Dizzy's big band. (I play some of those charts now with a big band and it's hard to be heard, even with an amp!) I had always suspected that Ray's bass must have been a loud instrument and everything I've read here has confirmed it. I wish I had known of its whereabouts when I was passing through Toronto a couple of years ago for the International Jazz Educators' Conference. I would have LOVED to have tried it out!
Interestingly, there is a London-based luthier called Lawrence Dixon who has been commisioned to build a recreation of that bass to serve as the house bass at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. I spoke to Lawrence and he seemed to be of the opinion that Ray's bass was an Amati, although I don't think he has actually seen it first hand.
Does anyone know any more about Ray's second-fiddle (if you'll excuse the pun), the Silvestre? Where does it now live?
i know John Clayton has one of Ray's basses. I think he said it is German. Beautiful instrument.
That means John has at least two of Ray's basses. The Sylvestre and another one given to him by Ray that you see him playing often. That thing moves some serious air.
