Legendary bassist Ray Brown has been gone now for more than a decade, but his music and influence are very much alive. The Ray Brown Tribute Trio is made up of three musicians, coming to Whitefish and Bigfork on Oct. 9 and 10, dedicated to honoring their mentor, colleague and friend.

Larry Fuller was Brown’s last piano player. Drummer Jeff Hamilton performed and recorded with Brown in the L.A. Four, was part of the Ray Brown Trio from 1988 to 1995 and was with him in the Oscar Peterson Trio. Grammy winner John Clayton on bass rounds out the trio and is Brown’s most prominent protégé, who inherited his bass and loves him like a father.

The Ray Brown Tribute Trio will pay tribute with their high level of musicianship, deep respect for the master, a great music program, and fascinating stories of Brown’s career.

“This trio is the best of the best!” according to Glen Mitchell, L.A. Jazz Scene.

Brown was featured on more than 2,000 recordings. He played with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and others who invented bebop in the 1940s. He was a long-standing member of the Oscar Peterson Trio and was part of the original lineup of the Modern Jazz Quartet. He accompanied various singers throughout his career, from Frank Sinatra to Linda Ronstadt. He not only accompanied Ella Fitzgerald, he was married to her from 1947 to 1952. After their divorce he continued on as her musical director.

Brown’s “almost Zen-like approach to playing his instrument produced throbbing, aching music that could hush the house,” wrote Nate Guidry in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Clayton began studying with Brown at the age of 16. By the time Clayton was 19, he had become the bassist on Henry Mancini’s television series, the “Mancini Generation.” He went on to tour with the Monty Alexander Trio and the Count Basie Orchestra. In 1977, John and brother Jeff Clayton on saxophone formed the Clayton Brothers Quintet. He later formed the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.

Clayton was the artistic director of the Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic program at the Hollywood Bowl. He currently serves as artistic director for the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Jazz Port Townsend Summer Workshop and Vail Jazz Festival. He teaches at the California Thornton School of Music. He’s composed and/or arranged for the Count Basie Orchestra, Diana Krall, Carmen McRae, Nancy Wilson, Joe Williams, Quincy Jones, Natalie Cole and The Tonight Show Band. Clayton arranged “The Star Spangled Banner” for Whitney Houston’s 1990 Super Bowl performance and he played bass on Paul McCartney’s album “Kisses on the Bottom.”

Brown had said of his pianist Fuller: “He brings a vitality. He swings hard and I like that!”

Oscar Peterson and Brown inspire Fuller’s philosophy: Play every note with conviction, honor the bandstand and treat the music as sacred. Fuller’s break came in the mid-’80s when singer Ernestine Anderson performed in Toledo, Ohio. Fuller had been studying her arrangements, so he was ready when she asked him to accompany her. By their third night together she was announcing to the audience that Fuller was her new piano player. 

In the early 1990s at a West Los Angeles club called the Loa, Hamilton — who was known for this work with Brown and Monty Alexander, among others — joined them on drums.

“We were immediately hand in glove,” Fuller said. “I heard all his influences, and I just giggled on the bandstand at his vast knowledge.”

In 1994, Fuller left Anderson to join the new Jeff Hamilton Trio. The experience gradually emboldened him to produce his own album. Hamilton agreed to play drums, and made an offer that thrilled Fuller: “You just get your wallet out, and I’ll get Ray Brown for you,” Hamilton said.

In April 2000, Brown asked Fuller to become his pianist. Fuller had to transcribe more than 100 arrangements and then master them because Brown, who was old-fashioned in his demand for polished presentations, did not allow charts on the bandstand. 

After Brown’s passing, Fuller became John Pizzarelli’s pianist and stayed with his band for seven years.

Hamilton is known for his melodic solos, which is a rare description for a drummer. In his review of the Ray Brown Trio in the Denver Post, Jeff Bradley stated that Hamilton “brought the crowd to its feet with his amazing hand-drumming, soft and understated yet as riveting and rewarding as any drum solo you’ve heard.”

Hamilton joined Lionel Hampton’s Band until 1975 when he and Clayton became members of Monty Alexander’s Trio.

Hamilton attained a childhood goal in 1977 when he joined Woody Herman and the Thundering Herd, with whom he made several recordings. In 1978, he was offered the position vacated by Shelly Manne in the L.A. Four with Brown, Bud Shank and Laurindo Almeida. From 1983 to 1987, he performed with Fitzgerald, the Count Basie Orchestra, Rosemary Clooney and Monty Alexander. He began his association with the Ray Brown Trio in 1988 and left in 1995 to concentrate on his own trio.

In addition to many recordings with Brown, Hamilton has been on nearly 200 recordings with artists such as Natalie Cole, Diana Krall, Barbara Streisand, Mel Torme, John Pizzarelli, George Shearing, Clark Terry, Keely Smith, Herb Ellis and Mark Murphy. He also appeared in Natalie Cole’s Great Performances PBS special, “Unforgettable,” and an Oscar Peterson documentary, “Life in the Key of Oscar.”

The Ray Brown Tribute Trio will perform at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center on Friday, Oct. 9, at 7:30 p.m., and at the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 7:30 p.m.

The Oct. 9 and 10 concerts are sponsored by Don “K” Subaru and brought to you by Singer and Simpson Productions. Additional sponsors include the Daily Inter Lake, The Lodge at Whitefish Lake, and Joel Pemberton of Edward Jones in Whitefish.

Tickets range from $29 to $39. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.SingerandSimpson.com or www.Tix.com or call 406-730-2817.

Miriam Singer is co-owner of Singer and Simpson Productions. She can be reached at info@singerandsimpson.com.