Anthony Brown (jazz musician) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anthony Brown
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| Background information | |
| Born | March 17, 1953 Presidio, San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Progressive Jazz, World Music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, bandleader, educator |
| Instruments | Drums, Percussion |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Labels | Water Baby, Asian Improv, RPM, Soul Note, FMP, Hat Art, Gramavision, Sagittarius A-Star, Blue Note |
| Education | University of Oregon (BA) Rutgers University (MM) University of California, Berkeley (MA, PhD) |
Anthony Brown is an American jazz musician. He plays the drums and other percussion instruments. He is also a composer, bandleader, and teacher. He studies music from different cultures, which is called ethnomusicology.
Anthony Brown is famous for leading the Asian American Orchestra. This group started in 1998 and was even nominated for a Grammy Award! His music mixes jazz sounds with traditional Asian instruments. He also writes music for movies, plays, dances, and poetry readings.
From 1992 to 1996, Brown helped create the Jazz Oral History Program at the Smithsonian Institution. This program records interviews with famous jazz musicians. He also taught music at the University of California, Berkeley. Today, he is a professor emeritus at the California Jazz Conservatory.
In 2023, Anthony Brown became a U.S. State Department Cultural Ambassador in Thailand. This is a special honor for jazz musicians. Other famous jazz artists like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong have also been cultural ambassadors.
Contents
Early Life
Anthony Brown was born in San Francisco, California. His father, Willie Lee Brown, was a soldier from an African American and Choctaw background. His mother, Sumi Ogita, was from Tokyo, Japan. They met and married in Japan after World War II.
When Anthony was nine, his family moved to Okinawa, Japan, for four years. They spent summers at his mother's family home in Tokyo. His older brother, Mike, taught him to play the guitar and the Blues. Mike later played bass with the famous musician Bo Diddley.
In 1966, the Browns moved back to California. They lived in Los Angeles, where Anthony started playing the drums. He played in bands that covered songs by Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. In 1970, his family moved to Frankfurt, Germany. Anthony finished high school there in 1971.
Education and Music Career
Anthony Brown went to the University of Oregon. He studied music and psychology. He also played orchestral percussion. He performed in touring shows like Leonard Bernstein's "Mass".
After college, he joined the military in 1976. He was a Lieutenant in Military Intelligence in Europe. While in Greece, he played drums at the Jazz Club-Athens. In 1977, he led the US Army Chorus in Germany. He also played with jazz artists like James Newton and Billy Bang.
When he finished his military service in 1980, he returned to San Francisco. He became a professional musician. He worked with groups like Cultural Odyssey and United Front.
Asian American Jazz Movement
In the 1980s, Anthony Brown became part of the Asian American Jazz Movement. This movement grew from the progressive jazz scene in the Bay Area. He toured and recorded with the group United Front. He also played with the San Francisco Symphony. Brown taught drums at the New College of California.
In 1985, Brown moved to New York. He performed in an opera called "X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X". He then studied at Rutgers University. He was the first person to get a Master's degree in Jazz Studies there in 1987. He learned drumming from Ed Blackwell and Keith Copeland. While in New York, he played with famous musicians like Kenny Barron and Art Farmer. He also toured in Europe.
Brown later went to the University of California, Berkeley. He studied different types of music, including African, Japanese, North Indian, and American Indian music. He also researched the history of the jazz drum set.
Smithsonian and Asian American Orchestra
In 1992, Brown worked at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian. He started the Jazz Oral History Program there. He also toured with the Smithsonian Jazz Trio. He played with musicians like John Handy and Julius Hemphill.
After living on both coasts, Brown returned to Berkeley in 1996. He finished his PhD in music. He led a project called "Big Bands Behind Barbed Wire: Jazz and Justice." This project taught about the Japanese American experience during World War II. It also led to the creation of the Asian American Jazz Orchestra.
The orchestra toured and recorded the album Big Bands Behind Barbed Wire. In 1998, Anthony Brown continued the group as Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra. They toured and released six CDs. Their album Far East Suite was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1999. Their next CD, Monk's Moods, was highly praised by Downbeat magazine.
In 2003, Brown received a Guggenheim Fellowship. This allowed him to compose "American Rhapsodies." This piece was a new version of Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" with a modern, global feel.
In 2004, Brown started his own record label, Water Baby Records. In 2005, he created Fifth Stream Music. This group helps with his performances and educational programs. In 2013, Fifth Stream Music started a Gospel music group called Voices of A Dream (VOAD). This group performs Brown's work "Our Eyes on the Prize: King's Dream Fifty Years On."
Anthony Brown has performed with many other great musicians. These include Cecil Taylor, Max Roach, Pharoah Sanders, and Angela Davis. He has also worked with poets like Sonia Sanchez and Janice Mirikitani.
Brown has given talks and lectures at many universities and institutions. These include the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution. He has also written chapters for books about jazz, including books about John Coltrane and Duke Ellington.
Discography
Anthony Brown has released many albums, both as a leader and playing with other musicians.
As leader/co-leader
- Ohm: Unit of Resistance – United Front (1981)
- Live In Berlin – United Front (1983)
- Family – Anthony Brown with SF Taiko (1997)
- Big Bands Behind Barbed Wire – Asian American Jazz Orchestra (1998)
- Far East Suite – Asian American Orchestra (1999)
- Monk's Moods – Asian American Orchestra w/ Steve Lacy (2002)
- Rhapsodies – Asian American Orchestra w/ David Murray (2005)
- Ten – Asian American Orchestra w/ Steve Lacy, David Murray (2008)
- India and Africa: Tribute to John Coltrane – Asian American Orchestra (2010)
- GO FOR BROKE! by the Asian American Orchestra feat. Janice Mirikitani (2018)
As sideman
- The African Flower – James Newton (1985)
- Water Mystery – James Newton (1986)
- Never Give Up! – Jon Jang and the Pan-Asian Arkestra (1989)
- Self Defense! – Jon Jang and the Pan-Asian Arkestra (1991)
- Tiananmen! – Jon Jang and the Pan-Asian Arkestra (1993)
- Circle of Fire – Mark Izu & Circle of Fire (1994)
Images for kids
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Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra and Voices of A Dream with Angela Davis and Janice Mirikitani, San Francisco, 2018
