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Charles Brown

Charles Brown was the pioneer originator of the immensely influential postwar California blues style. Though identified with his classic “Driftin’ Blues,” he was not committed to just the blues, and was comfortable as a popular crooner as well. His efforts as a vocalist, pianist, and composer helped create the music that would become rhythm and blues, and he was one of the principals in bringing about a shift in the mainstream of African-American music, one that would bring vocalists to the forefront and largely eclipse the instrumental art of jazz. Brown was a premier entertainer in the 1940s and 1950s, influencing a host of later performers including Ray Charles.

Brown was born on September 13, 1922 (some sources give the year as 1920), in Texas City, Texas. His mother died when he was a baby, and he was raised by his grandparents, who made him learn to play the piano and the church organ. He stuck to his education, and eventually earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry with the intention of teaching the subject in school. However, after he joined the large migration of Texas blacks to Los Angeles during World War II, he quickly became aware of the jazz and blues scene taking shape there, and decided that he might do better to put his musical abilities to work.

Brown entered an amateur hour competition at Los Angeles's Lincoln Theater, a blues live performance mecca. Ironically he did not win the contest with a blues song but did a great interpretation of “Claire de Lune.” and for his encore followed with “Rhapsody in Blue.” On stage, Brown impressed the guitarist Johnny Moore, who was looking for a pianist-vocalist to complete his new group, the Three Blazers. Brown got the job and became the front man for a new kind of blues act, one that offered music of considerable complexity, and borrowed harmonies and instrumental techniques from the world of jazz without losing the directness and emotional depth of its rural blues roots.

When in the summer of 1945 Charles Brown recorded “Driftin’Blues,” it immediately expanded the language of the blues, shading it with an air of sophistication. This song was a huge hit running well into 1946. Charles was still in the Three Blazers, and continued with them for several more records then in 1949 he decided to go out on his own, as he realized that it was his songs that were making them popular in the R&B circuit.

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Album Review

Various Artists: Putumayo Presents Jazz Christmas

Read "Putumayo Presents Jazz Christmas" reviewed by Jim Trageser


The Putumayo World Music compilations have achieved an enviable brand status with their wide-ranging stylistic variety and the distinctively cheerful covers by artist Lisa Gonzalez. The latest entry, Putumayo Presents Jazz Christmas joins previous entrants Putumayo Presents New Orleans Christmas (2007) and Putumayo Presents A Jazz & Blues Christmas (2008) in offering collections of holiday-themed entrants in a jazz vein. As with all of its jazz releases, Putumayo founder and curator Dan Storper's taste in jazz ...

221
Album Review

Charles Brown: Blues And Other Love Songs

Read "Blues And Other Love Songs" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Labeled as a blues singer, pianist Charles Brown walks the line between jazz, blues and a long lost genre, popular music. Born in 1922 and classically trained on the ivories, Brown began singing during wartime and was often compared to Nat King Cole. During the forties and fifties, singing R&B didn’t mean rap nor did it imply electric vamp. Brown was a stylist and cool ballad practitioner.

This re-release of a 1992 Muse date again blurs the line between blues ...

189
Album Review

Charles Brown: Blues And Other Love Songs

Read "Blues And Other Love Songs" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


R&B legend Charles Brown passed away in 1999 at the age of seventy-seven as his career represented something of a paradox. The pianist/vocalist/songwriter enjoyed success with a string of hits in the 40’s then seemed to drift into obscurity until his talents were rediscovered in the 90’s as he also became the recipient of the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Subsequent tours with singer Bonnie Raitt and a few blues recordings rekindled awareness of his enormous ...

183
Album Review

Charles Brown: Blues And Other Love Songs

Read "Blues And Other Love Songs" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


R&B legend Charles Brown passed away in 1999 at the age of seventy-seven as his career represented something of a paradox. The pianist/vocalist/songwriter enjoyed success with a string of hits in the 40’s then seemed to drift into obscurity until his talents were rediscovered in the 90’s as he also became the recipient of the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Subsequent tours with singer Bonnie Raitt and a few blues recordings rekindled awareness of his enormous ...

201
Album Review

Charles Brown: In A Grand Style

Read "In A Grand Style" reviewed by Ed Kopp


Charles Brown pioneered a sophisticated form of post-World War II blues that was part slow blues, part mellow jazz. Brown's smooth music inspired the likes of Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Little Richard and countless others who later became much wealthier than their idol. Over the past decade, a new generation of listeners has fallen in love with Brown's music, thanks mostly to the efforts of Bonnie Raitt, who invited Brown to tour with her band on the heels of her ...

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Driftin' Blues

Arkadia Records
2022

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Putumayo Presents...

Putumayo World Music
2021

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Cryin' Mercy

P.S.F. Records
2006

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Alone at the Piano

Savoy Jazz
2004

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Blues And Other Love...

P.S.F. Records
2000

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In A Grand Style

Bullseye Records
1999

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