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Ari Brown

Versatility has characterized the career of Ari Brown, a Chicago-based reedman and occasional pianist who plays hard bop and post-bop as convincingly as he plays avant-garde jazz. After growing up on the city's South Side and graduating from high school in the early '60s, Brown attended Chicago's Wilson College, where he met Jack DeJohnette, Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, and others who would later become members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Brown played piano in mostly soul and blues bands until 1965, when he took up the sax and starting becoming seriously interested in jazz. In 1971, he joined AACM and made jazz his primary focus.

Brown played sax on a few albums by a little-known group called the Awakening (who included bassist Rufus Reid), but after losing some teeth in a 1974 auto accident, he gave up playing the sax for about a year and played the piano exclusively. Brown made a full recovery, made the sax his main instrument once again and went on to work with players ranging from McCoy Tyner and Don Patterson to Sonny Stitt in the 1970s. The Chicagoan also kept busy during the 1980s, recording with Lester Bowie before being hired by Von Freeman, Bobby Watson, and Anthony Braxton (who hired him for his Charlie Parker Project). It was in 1989 that Brown began his lucrative membership in Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio. But as long a resumé as Brown had as a sideman, he didn't record as a leader until 1995, when he provided the diverse Ultimate Frontier for Delmark. Source: Alex Henderson

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Album Review

Natural Information Society: Since Time is Gravity

Read "Since Time is Gravity" reviewed by Danen Jobe


The concept of trance is one of the oldest in the world. Many older music forms embraced trance for their rituals. One is the Gnawa musical tradition originating in Kano, Nigeria and Morocco, which uses double and triple notes repeated sometimes for hours to induce a religious state while the singer sings stories of spirits. It is played on a gimbri (aka sintir or hajhuj), a three stringed instrument featuring one short and two long goat gut strings over a ...

6
Album Review

Joshua Abrams’ Cloud Script: Cloud Script

Read "Cloud Script" reviewed by Mark Corroto


You can take bassist Joshua Abrams out of his Natural Information Society, but you can't take the Natural Information Society out of Abrams. His long- lived ensemble, which traffics in long-form psychedelic environmental music, has made a permanent imprint on just about everything Abrams does. In bands led by Nicole Mitchell, Hamid Drake, Dave Rempis, and Rob Mazurek, Abrams' acoustic bass sound is hypnotic and mesmerizing. The same can be said for this one-off Cloud Script quartet. The ...

1
Album Review

Ari Brown: Groove Awakening

Read "Groove Awakening" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Erede della grande tradizione sassofonistica di Chicago, il settantenne Ari Brown pubblica il suo quarto album da leader confermando gli aspetti chiave del suo stile: timbro magniloquente e ricco di sfumature, fraseggio fluente, marcato senso del blues, viva energia con cui sostiene lunghi e rapsodici assoli. Nel suo strumento si rinnova lo spirito ecumenico, già condiviso con Fred Anderson e Von Freeman, che fonde l'hard bop degli anni cinquanta con le forme della black popular music, terreno di ...

3
Album Review

Ari Brown: Groove Awakening

Read "Groove Awakening" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


It is easy to think of saxophonist Ari Brown as the heir to the late, great Chicago tenorists Von Freeman and Fred Anderson but that would not be a fair assessment. Far more than a successor, Brown is the youngest and remaining member of a powerfully unique musical triumvirate. His idiosyncratic style is equally appropriate to both provocative avant-garde explorations and the laid back swagger of hard bop. On his fourth release as a leader, Groove Awakening Brown ...

240
Film Review

Live At The Green Mill

Read "Live At The Green Mill" reviewed by Nic Jones


Ari Brown Live At The Green Mill Delmark 2007

Ari Brown has deep-running roots and, though in the past he's been associated with the likes of Lester Bowie, the music on this DVD is more straight ahead than his association with Bowie and the AACM might imply. His band has all the hallmarks of a working unit, and Delmark's usual careful attention to both the sound and the visuals lends to the overall package ...

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Film Review

Ari Brown: Live at the Green Mill

Read "Ari Brown: Live at the Green Mill" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Ari Brown Live At The Green Mill Delmark 2007

Mention the name of Ari Brown and up comes a picture of a saxophonist who is comfortable in several settings and on more than one instrument (he also plays flute and piano). He is as much at home in a free jazz mode as he is in bop and post-bop. And if there is to be a bit of soul or rhythm and ...

273
Album Review

Ari Brown: Live At The Green Mill

Read "Live At The Green Mill" reviewed by Mark Corroto


No need to command Ari Brown to make a joyful sound, he gladly obliges on this live date at the Green Mill in Chicago. The sixty-something saxophonist draws on the Chicago tenor tradition, along with spices from the 1960s sound of John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, and Eric Dolphy.

Starting out on the windy south side, Brown played with soul and R&B bands. It wasn't until he was a mature player that he focused mainly on jazz. For this ...

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Event

Tuesdays on the Terrace: Ari Brown at the MCA Terrace and Sculpture Garden (Chicago)

Tuesdays on the Terrace: Ari Brown at the MCA Terrace and Sculpture Garden (Chicago)

Source: All About Jazz

Tuesdays on the Terrace presents another inspiring season of free evening jazz concerts on the MCA's Terrace and Sculpture Garden. Hosted by local radio personalities, visitors are invited to enjoy cocktails, Puck's Express snacks, or a dinner buffet from Puck's Cafe while listening to Chicago's finest jazz musicians. Dinner reservations at Puck's are recommended, call 312.397.4034. In case of rain, the event takes place in Puck's. Tuesdays on the Terrace: Ari Brown Tuesday, June 10 5:30 ...

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Performance / Tour

Updated Delmark Announcement: Ari Brown at Green Mill is On, Pete Cosey is Off

Updated Delmark Announcement: Ari Brown at Green Mill is On, Pete Cosey is Off

Source: All About Jazz

ARI BROWN Quartet- Live at the Green Mill in Chicago for upcoming Delmark Records DVD/CD - Friday, June 22nd and Saturday, June 23rd, 2007 - Pete Cosey will NOT be performing. I regret to inform you that special guest, electric guitarist Pete Cosey, will NOT be the special guest with the Ari Brown Quartet at the Delmark DVD/CD Green Mill recording as previously announced. I apologize for this unfortunate situation. Delmark Records next recording for future DVD/CD will be the ...

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Performance / Tour

Ari Brown Quartet with Special Guest Pete Cosey: Upcoming Delmark DVD/CD Recording

Ari Brown Quartet with Special Guest Pete Cosey: Upcoming Delmark DVD/CD Recording

Source: All About Jazz

Local unsung heroes of Chicago jazz and blues unite for a special Green Mill engagement for future Delmark DVD/CD! JUNE 22, 23, 2007 ARI BROWN Quartet with very special guest, PETE COSEY (June 23rd only) Live at the Green Mill, Friday, June 22nd and Saturday, June 23rd (Cosey only on 23rd) Some exciting news just confirmed, Delmark's next recording for future DVD/CD will be the Ari Brown Quartet - Kirk Brown (piano), Yosef Ben Israel (Bass), and Avreeyal Ra (drums). ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Since Time is Gravity

Eremite Records
2023

buy

Cloud Script

Rogue Art
2021

buy

Groove Awakening

Delmark Records
2015

buy

Groove Awakening

Delmark Records
2014

buy

Live At The Green Mill

Delmark Records
2008

buy

Live at the River...

Delmark Records
2006

buy

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