Ray Brown - Brown's Bag (1975)

Bassist Ray Brown's debut for Concord (and his first recording as a leader in six years) features him with two separate groups: a quintet also including trumpeter Blue Mitchell, tenor-saxophonist Richie Kamuca, pianist Art Hillery and drummer John Guerin and (on three of the seven songs) a quartet with keyboardist Dave Grusin, guitarist John Collins and drummer Jimmie Smith. While the former group has some hot moments (particularly on "Blues for Eddie Lee" and "Surrey with the Fringe on Top"), the latter band sticks to dreamy ballads. The fact that this CD reissue has less than 35 minutes is a minus; plus none of the selections are really all that memorable despite the strong playing. Not one of the more significant Ray Brown albums.