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Europe Jazz Network
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Pianist, composer, educator, band leader and recording artist is a beam
of bright talent on today's jazz scene, whose lyrical, original music has
found favor among many masterful contemporary players. Mr. Brown became
widely known for his Grammy-nominated composition "The Insane Asylum" first
heard on Wynton Marsalis J Mood. Art Blakey, Billy Pierce, Jon Faddis, Javon
Jackson, Elvin Jones, TS Monk, Ralph Moore, Ralph Peterson, Renee Rosnes,
Mulgrew Miller, James Williams and many others have recorded his compositions.
In fact, Donald Brown has already composed and arranged over 200 tunes. Born in Hernando, Mississipi, he began his career as a drummer, received a scholarship to Memphis State University as a trumpet player and didn't study piano until college. Working since the 1970's, often as a bassist, with R&B stars such as Al Green, BB King and Denise Lasalle, top 40 bands, and studio musician, Mr. Brown has also taught at such schools as Berklee College of Music and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He has toured with Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard and Donald Byrd, and gigged with Bobby Hutcherson, Slide Hampton, Milt Jackson, Wynton Marsalis among others. Donald Brown who first played rhythm'n'blues, which is still recognizable in is playing, is without doubt one of the most original and versed piano players of his generation. In his highly inspired solos one can discover the entire history of jazz from Stride to New Thing and his highly individual and orchestral arrangements on all time standards. Unusual but always right, progressions surprise as well as unexspected quotations from jazz history, from Thelonious Monk to Herbie Hancock through Phineas Newborn and Ahmad Jamal, and finally Donald Brown own compositions are of a class of their own, they hopfully become standards in the Real Book. This highly talented master can be heard on numerous CDs. His latest CD, Piano Short Stories (Space Time Records BG9601), is an impressive solo recital recorded live and the pianist has been lauded by critics for his "awesome technique", as a "powerful soloist" and "gifted composer". Biography courtesy of Space Time Records. |