Forgotten series: Ray Brown with Oscar Peterson and Milt Jackson, "The Very Tall Band" (1999)

NICK DERISO: This is one of those underrated guys who kept on producing important work well past his so-called prime, because Brown was such an in-the-pocket guy.

You can't go wrong with the old Jazz at the Philharmonic stuff, of course. But I couldn't more highly recommend his late-period work on Telarc.

Ray Brown first appeared on the label on some of its first major non-classical releases, debuting in 1989 with Andre Previn and Mundell Lowe on "After Hours."

So-so, but then he got hot -- very hot: Brown's 1993 trio recording (with Benny Green and Jeff Hamilton), called "Bass Face," is one of my favorite Brown releases ever. (And that includes stints with Peterson, Basie and Gillespie.

Critics took notice of the career renaissance: In 1999, Brown won Acoustic Bassist of the Year in Down Beat’s Readers Poll. That came after the thoroughly successful 1999 album with Oscar Peterson and Milt Jackson, called "The Very Tall Band."

Oh, I've burned this one up. Recorded live at the Blue Note in November 1998, we've since lost two of its stars.

In 2001, Brown released "SuperBass 2," another live recording, this time at the Blue Note in New York City. Bassists John Clayton and Christian McBride were featured.

"Some of My Best Friends Are... Guitarists," with John Pizzarelli, Herb Ellis, Russell Malone, Ulf Wakenius, Bruce Forman and Kenny Burrell, was also a great installment in Ray Brown’s "Some of My Best Friends Are..." series.