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Anthony Brown

Percussionist, composer, ethnomusicologist, educator and Smithsonian Associate Scholar Dr. Anthony Brown is a seminal figure in the contemporary California creative music scene, directing the Asian American Orchestra in addition to performing with some of the foremost musicians in jazz today.

Since 1998, his Orchestra has received international critical acclaim for blending Asian musical instruments and sensibilities with the sonorities of the jazz orchestra. The Asian American Orchestra's recording of Duke Ellington-Billy Strayhorn's Far East Suite received a 2000 GRAMMY nomination for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance.

The late jazz saxophonist and MacArthur Fellow Steve Lacy joined as guest artist for the Orchestra's next recording, Monk's Moods. Rated as a "five-star masterpiece" and one of four "Best CDs of 2003" by Downbeat magazine, the recording features new interpretations of Thelonious Monk's compositions in collaboration with Monk's original producer, Orrin Keepnews. Dr. Brown can also be heard on over twenty other recordings on Water Baby, Asian Improv, Soul Note, Blue Note, Gramavision, and Hat Art Records.

Anthony Brown's musical career, spanning performance, composition, and education, dates back to the 1970's. A San Francisco native of Japanese and African/Native American descent who grew up around the world as an "Army brat," Dr. Brown has developed a unique compositional and performance voice reflective of his own intercultural heritage and experiences. His work in the early 1980's with the pioneering San Francisco-based jazz quartet, United Front, sparked an interest in blending non-Western compositional approaches and instruments with traditional jazz idioms and improvisation that he is still exploring today.

Jazz critic Neil Tesser wrote, "When it comes to integrating Asian musical traditions with jazz, no one has better credentials than percussionist and composer Anthony Brown. Brown even seems to have been born to the task ..." He grew up in California, Japan and Germany, writing Bach fugues in high school while penning his first blues compositions. His father was a thirty-five year career Army Sergeant Major of African/Choctaw heritage from South Carolina, and his mother is a native of Tokyo, Japan. While living in Japan as a preteen, Brown developed an interest in visual arts, and then began emulating his brother Michael, an electric guitarist and bassist who later toured with Bo Diddley. After returning stateside to Los Angeles in 1966, Brown switched to drums and began playing in Jimi Hendrix/Sly Stone-influenced bands with then-bassist/vocalist James Newton. They experimented with jazz in high school before Brown moved to Frankfurt, Germany in 1970, where he studied music theory and flute while playing in R&B/progressive rock dance bands.

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Radio

The Jazz Session #245: Anthony Brown

The Jazz Session #245: Anthony Brown

Source: AAJ Staff


121

Recording

Anthony Brown's Asian-American Orchestra - India and Africa: A Tribute to John Coltrane (Water Baby, 2010)

Anthony Brown's Asian-American Orchestra - India and Africa: A Tribute to John Coltrane (Water Baby, 2010)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland

Drummer and percussionist Anthony Brown has led a big band for several years, recording well regarded tributes to the likes of Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. Turning their sights to the music of John Coltrane, the music on this album is augmented with the addition of traditional Indian and African instruments. “India: Diaspora" is a prelude to the main album with the music entering in a spacious and spare feeling. Flutes and percussion give the band a full sound that ...

166

Recording

"India & Africa": Coltrane Tribute by Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra

"India & Africa": Coltrane Tribute by Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

For the last dozen years, percussionist-composer Anthony Brown's innovative Asian American Orchestra has reinvented classics of American music by composers Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, and George Gershwin from a Pacific Rim perspective by mixing instruments of European and American vintage with those of various Asian cultures. Now, with the September 28 release of India & Africa: A Tribute to John Coltrane on Water Baby Records, the 16-member ensemble brings its unique multicultural vision to 12 compositions written by ...

131

Performance / Tour

Miraflores’ Miget to Tour with Dr. Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra

Miraflores’ Miget to Tour with Dr. Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra

Source: imajinnWEST

North Bay Saxophonist performing with AAO at University of Illinois On Thursday, November 6, 7:30 pm North Bay saxophonist Marcia Miget will perform with Dr. Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra as part of the Marquee Jazz Series at University of Illinois Champaign Urbana’s Foellinger Great Hall. A mutual admiration society Ms. Miget has been a consistent presence performing and recording with Dr. Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra since 2004, last year playing reeds on the AAO’s ...

138

Performance / Tour

Miraflores' Miget to Tour with Dr. Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra

Miraflores' Miget to Tour with Dr. Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra

Source: imajinnWEST

North Bay Saxophonist performing with AAO at University of Illinois On Thursday, November 6, 7:30 pm North Bay saxophonist Marcia Miget will perform with Dr. Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra as part of the Marquee Jazz Series at University of Illinois Champaign Urbana’s Foellinger Great Hall. A mutual admiration society Ms. Miget has been a consistent presence performing and recording with Dr. Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra since 2004, last year playing reeds on the AAO’s ...

196

Performance / Tour

Miraflores Music Miget to Perform with Dr. Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra

Miraflores Music Miget to Perform with Dr. Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra

Source: imajinnWEST

On Thursday, September 11 at Yoshi’s Night Club in San Francisco North Bay saxophonist Marcia Miget will perform two shows with Dr. Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra. A mutual admiration society Ms. Miget has been a consistent presence performing and recording with Dr. Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra since 2004. Over the last four years Marcia has performed this big band’s unique repertoire at Monterey, Stern Grove, and Fillmore Jazz Festivals. With skills that cross multiple ...

256

Recording

Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra at "Ten": New CD + Yoshi's Show

Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra at "Ten": New CD + Yoshi's Show

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra will celebrate their ten-year history with the release of a new commemorative CD entitled “Ten" on Tuesday, August 26, and with a performance at Yoshi's San Francisco on Thursday, September 11. The Yoshi's event, which inaugurates the innovative orchestra's annual home season, takes as its theme “Bridging Japantown and the Fillmore." “We are mounting an outreach campaign in neighborhood schools and centers on both sides of the Geary Street divide," says Brown, himself of African-American ...

"If music is a language, then Berkeley percussionist and composer Anthony Brown is probably one of the most articulate men in jazz." —The San Francisco Chronicle

"...and Mr. Brown, swinging away on drums, made the piece levitate." —The New York Times

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