Born: September 8, 1989 Primary Instrument: Sax, tenor
Chad grew up in Horseheads, a small town in up state New York. His father was a music teacher whose love for jazz naturally flowed into the heart of his young son. With his father as a mentor, Chad had his first saxophone lesson when he was nine years old and so began his musical quest. A year later, he began playing with local jazz legend, George Reed and not long after, when Chad was 11, he won his first DownBeat Magazine Student Music Award. It was evident that Chad had unearthed his niche.
Throughout his teenage years, Chad developed a local following. He began playing throughout his community at clubs, theatres and festivals, and led benefit concerts for local and national homeless shelters and cancer societies. Among the numerous collegiate programs that sought Chad’s scholarship, he continued his education in the arts at the Brubeck Fellowship Program, a prestigious program started by jazz legend Dave Brubeck, in California. By the time he graduated from the Brubeck Fellowship Program, Chad had won a total of 15 DownBeat awards, including Best Jazz Soloist, and had performed at Carnegie Hall, the GRAMMY Awards, the Monterey Jazz Festival, and many other prestigious venues in North America and Europe. Chad has since moved to New York City where he currently performs and records with many different musical groups throughout New York City and abroad. Most recently, he has recorded and performed as a sideman for Ron McClure, (Charles Lloyd/Joe Henderson,) Clarence Penn (Michael Brecker/Dave Douglas,) and Arturo O’Farrill’s GRAMMY winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. Chad has appeared in concerts with distinguished musicians including Dave Brubeck, McCoy Tyner, Christian McBride, and Josh Groban, and has performed at notable venues such as the Staples Center, the North Sea Jazz Festival, and the Blue Note. Chad is also the Musical Director and saxophonist for Alice Tan Ridley from America’s Got Talent.
-Phusion Management
Awards:
15 DownBeat Student Music Awards (2002-2010) Best Jazz Soloist Best Original Composition Best Jazz Group“Saxophonist Chad Lefkowitz-Brown impresses on soprano sax on Chok's original arrangement of the Gershwins “The Man I Love.” At seven minutes, there's a spacious, unhurried feel to the arrangement, though Singam's rousing finale, buoyed and lifted by Lefkowitz-Brown's soprano, is stirring... Michel LeGrand's “What Are You Doing for the Rest of your Life?” is a stripped down—and slightly ponderous—arrangement, and a feature for Singam. Chad-Lefkowitz's intervention on tenor saxophone, however, steals the show.” Excerpt from Ian Patterson's All About Jazz review of Rani Singam, “Contentment”.
