There is more than one artist named Ray Brown.
1 - American jazz double … Read Full Bio ↴There is more than one artist named Ray Brown.
1 - American jazz double bassist
2 - Australian singer/guitarist

1. Raymond Matthews Brown (October 13, 1926–July 2, 2002) was an American jazz double bassist.

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 double 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 Russel 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, and their work together eventually led to the creation of the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Around this time Brown was also appearing in Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts, organised by Norman Granz. It was at these concerts that he met the jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, whom he married in 1947. Together they adopted a child born to Fitzgerald's half-sister Francis, whom they christened Ray Brown, Jr. Fitzgerald and Brown divorced in 1952.

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. 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 double bass instruction books, and developed a jazz cello.

It was whilst in Los Angeles that he composed music for films and television shows. He was awarded his first Grammy for his composition, "Gravy Waltz", a tune which would later be used as the theme song for The Steve Allen Show.

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, he discovered Diana Krall in a restaurant in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

He continued to perform until his death; he died while taking a nap before a show in Indianapolis.

2. Ray Brown & The Whispers were a highly successful Australian rock band from 1964-67. Led by singer Ray Brown, they ranked alongside The Easybeats, Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs and Normie Rowe as one of the most popular acts of the period. After a few name and personnel changes which led to short lived incarnations, Ray sought to further/widen his career and in late '67 Ray headed overseas and spent two years working in the U.S.A. which included the recording of a solo album Just Ray Brown for Capitol, produced by American composer arranger producer David Axelrod. Despite the name producer and large budget, it flopped, largely due to poor choices of material by the company. According to a contemporary interview from Go-Set, Ray declared that "Capitol spent $30,000 on it, put in a 30 piece orchestra and then wouldn't let me pick my own material."

3. Ray Brown is from Tallahassee, FL and has been writing songs and performing since 2010. His debut album, CANYON, was released in August, 2012. The East Village arts quarterly, BOOG CITY describes his songs as "funny and tragic at the same time" and The New Yorker dubbed him "a solid songwriter".

https://raybrown.bandcamp.com

Angel Eyes
Ray Brown Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Try to think that love's not around
But it´s uncomfortably near
My old heart ain't gaining no ground
Because my angel eyes ain't here

Angel eyes, that old devil sent
They glow unbearably bright
Need I say that my love´s mispent

Mispent with angel eyes tonight

So drink up all you people
Order anything you see
Have fun you happy people
The laughs and the jokes on me

Pardon me but I got to run
The fact's uncommonly clear
Got to find who's now number one
And why my angel eyes ain't here
Oh, where is my angel eyes

Excuse me while I disappear
Angel eyes, angel eyes.

Overall Meaning

The song "Angel Eyes" by Ray Brown describes the singer's heartache over the absence of a loved one, whose eyes he describes as "angel eyes." He pleads with himself to try to believe that love is not close by, but he cannot ignore the feeling that his lover is still present in his heart. Despite his efforts, he feels as though his heart is not progressing, as he continues to yearn for the love he once had. The chorus repeats the phrase "angel eyes" twice per stanza, which emphasizes the weight of the singer's emotions and his obsession with his lover's beauty.

The second stanza of the song represents the singer's despair over his "mispent" love. He sings of how his lover's beauty is so powerful, he cannot deny her anything, even though he knows he should. He acknowledges that his love is a mistake, but he is unable to resist the temptation of her angelic gaze. To alleviate his sadness, the singer urges the people around him to enjoy themselves and drink, despite the fact that his own feelings prevent him from doing so. His heartbreak has turned into a joke for others to enjoy.

In the final stanza of the song, the singer's heartache reaches its peak. He admits that he must find a way to move on from his lover's absence, but he does not know how. The phrase "Oh, where is my angel eyes" expresses his longing for his lover and his confusion over how to cope with his heartbreak. The lyrics convey a sense of pain and desperation, highlighting the power that love can have over an individual.

Line by Line Meaning

Try to think that love's not around
I try to convince myself that love is absent

But it´s uncomfortably near
But I know deep down that love is nearby and unavoidable

My old heart ain't gaining no ground
My heart is not making any progress in moving on

Because my angel eyes ain't here
Because the person I love, who I refer to as 'angel eyes,' is not with me

Angel eyes, that old devil sent
The person I love has a captivating and irresistible quality, as if sent by the devil himself

They glow unbearably bright
Their presence is overwhelmingly strong and hard to resist

Need I say that my love's mispent
It's clear that my love for this person is not reciprocated or worth pursuing

Mispent with angel eyes tonight
I'm wasting my time and energy pining after this person

So drink up all you people
To drown my sorrows, I encourage others to indulge in drinking

Order anything you see
To have a good time, I tell them to order whatever they want

Have fun you happy people
I urge them to enjoy themselves and have a good time

The laughs and the jokes on me
But the reality is that I'm the one who's truly suffering

Pardon me but I got to run
I excuse myself as I need to leave suddenly

The fact's uncommonly clear
It's become extremely obvious to me

Got to find who's now number one
I need to find out who has replaced me as the person my love is with

And why my angel eyes ain't here
And figure out why the person I love isn't with me

Oh, where is my angel eyes
I desperately want to be with the person I love

Excuse me while I disappear
I need to leave and withdraw from the situation

Angel eyes, angel eyes.
A repeated expression of longing for the person I love, who has the captivating quality of angel eyes

Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Fintage House Publishing
Written by: ANTHONY BARRO, RUSSELL DIXON, JOEL N FAVIERE, ASHLEY HITTESDORF, JAKE JONES, NICHOLAS OROZCO, ERIK N RON

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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