Double Bass Ray Brown's bass

[Eric Hochberg]

The bass I saw him play at ISB that he said was Ray's is on his website. It has violin corners and a dark color.

 

[bassaroo]

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?

Hi Dave,

I was at that Jazz Educator's Conference too - and there was a picture of the Oscar Peterson Trio on the front of the brochure, including Ray playing the bass that I own now.

As I think back, I really should have brought the bass down and let anyone play the bass right there at the conference - how very silly of me not to think of it at the time, darn!

If you're ever in Toronto again, let me know!

Cheers!

Dave ("Bassaroo")

 

[Huy Nguyen]

The bass I saw him play at ISB that he said was Ray's is on his website. It has violin corners and a dark color.

Yup, that's the one I'm talking about. That's John's main bass now and it's not the Sylvestre. IIRC, Ray gave that bass to John when he was still around. Obviously, not the bass that Dave now owns.

Wait... I'm confused. I thought the Sylvestre is the one with the key handled tuners. That's what Dave has, right?

 

[bassaroo]

Yup, that's the one I'm talking about. That's John's main bass now and it's not the Sylvestre. IIRC, Ray gave that bass to John when he was still around. Obviously, not the bass that Dave now owns.

Wait... I'm confused. I thought the Sylvestre is the one with the key handled tuners. That's what Dave has, right?

Since you asked, no it's not the Sylvestre - it's the Amati - here's some pictures of Ray Brown's "Holey Pegged Bass" that I now own:

Let me know if you are ever in Toronto so you can stop by and play it!

Hi,

Today I took some pictures of Ray Brown's old bass - he called it his "holey-pegged" bass. I thought it might be interesting to see it today.

You'll see that it has an 'extension' on it now. Happily, there was no cutting into the scroll when this was done.

The wire you see in the picture is the David Gage "Realist" pickup on the bass.

Here's the bass:

Link Removed

Link Removed

 

[Violen]

I have never uttered this phrase before, ever.


I'll be in my bunk.

 

[Paul Warburton]

Just so we know....Ray with the SYLVESTRE on yer left.
On yer right, some guy with a porno stache from the 80's with a Bohmann five string DB.