Ray Brown's Great Big Band 'Kayak' review [VIDEO]

Ray Brown’s Great Big Band has an utterly smooth, uncomplicated jazz album underneath its musical belt. How could anyone expect anything less from Ray Brown’s band? After all, the entire band was hand-picked by Ray Brown for their outstanding musical abilities.

Ray Brown, who wrote music for artists such as Count Basie, wanted his writings to finally give him some sort of recognition, hence the start of his “great big band.” Let us just say that it is pretty great. Now, the album I am so crazily praising is Kayak, a wonderfully masterful compilation of Brown’s own arrangements.

The longest track on the album, and one of my favorites, is “Blue Daniel.” My adoration for this jazz track may be the entrance to the swing-filled rhythms that Brown arranged. It blares with excitement and then quiets to disclose a somewhat soft musical secret. Over six minutes long, this jazz song is anything but boring.

The shortest track on the album, “I’ve Never Been in Love Before,” features a vocalist named Gail Dobson. Since Brown’s taste in musicians sounds impeccable in the instrumental tracks, I assumed this female vocalist would blow me away. However, that was not the case when I listened to this song. This track was a disappointment compared to the other arrangements Ray Brown has on Kayak.

With “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” put aside, this album is irreproachable to a majority of the jazz I have listened to recently. This album is exemplary as an album for today’s modern jazz scene. Let’s hope that Ray Brown continues to pick the best artists to perform his arrangements of some of the most classic jazz standards of all time. Not only does Brown evidently have great taste in songs, but also a flawless sense of hearing when hunting down the correct musicians to bring his arrangements to life.