Marion Brown
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Marion Brown | |
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Background information | |
Born | Atlanta, Georgia, United States | September 8, 1931
Died | October 18, 2010 Hollywood, Florida | (aged 79)
Genres | Avant-garde, jazz |
Occupation(s) | Musician, ethnomusicologist |
Instrument | Alto saxophone |
Years active | 1962–1990 |
Marion Brown (September 8, 1931 – October 18, 2010)[1] was an American jazz alto saxophonist and ethnomusicologist. He is most well known as a member of the 1960s avant-garde jazz scene in New York City, playing alongside musicians such as John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, and John Tchicai. He performed on Coltrane's landmark 1965 album Ascension.[2]
Biography
Brown was born in Atlanta, in 1931. He joined the Army in 1953 and in 1956 went to Clark College to study music. In 1960 Brown left Atlanta and studied pre-law at Howard University for two years. He moved in 1962 to New York, where he befriended poet Amiri Baraka and musicians including Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders, Paul Bley, Clifford Thornton, and Rashied Ali. He appeared on several important albums from this period, such as Shepp's Fire Music and Attica Blues, but most notably John Coltrane's Ascension.[3]
In 1967, Brown travelled to Paris, where he developed an interest in architecture, Impressionistic art, African music and the music of Erik Satie. In the late 1960s, he was an American Fellow in Music Composition and Performance at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris. Around 1970, he provided the soundtrack for Marcel Camus' film Le temps fou, a soundtrack featuring Steve McCall, Barre Phillips, Ambrose Jackson and Gunter Hampel.[3]
Brown returned to the US in 1970, where he felt a newfound sense of creative drive. He moved to New Haven, Connecticut, to serve as a resource teacher in a child study center in the city's public school system until 1971. He composed and performed incidental music for a Georg Büchner play, Woyzeck. In 1971, Brown was an assistant professor of music at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, a position he held until he attained his Bachelor's degree in 1974. In addition to this role, he held faculty positions at Brandeis University (1971–74), Colby College (1973–74), and Amherst College (1974–75), as well as a graduate assistant position at Wesleyan University (1974–76). Brown earned a Master's degree in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan in 1976. His master's thesis was entitled "Faces and Places: The Music and Travels of a Contemporary Jazz Musician".[3]
Throughout his tenure as an educator, Brown continued to compose, perform and record. Notable recordings during this period included Afternoon of a Georgia Faun for the ECM label in 1970 and three albums for the Impulse! label between 1973 and 1975. He played alto saxophone on the composition "Bismillahi 'Rrahman 'Rrahim" from Harold Budd's 1976 release The Pavilion of Dreams, a piece originally written by Budd for Brown's Vista LP, released the previous year.
In 1972 and 1976, Brown received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, which he used to compose and publish several pieces for solo piano, one of which was based on the poetry of Jean Toomer in his book Cane. He also transcribed some piano and organ music by Erik Satie including his Messe des pauvres and Pages mysterieuses, and arranged the composer's Le Fils des étoiles for two guitars and violin.[3]
In 1981, Brown began focusing on drawing and painting. His charcoal portrait of blues guitarist Blind Lemon Jefferson was included in a New York City Kenkeleba Gallery art show called Jus' Jass, which also included works by artists such as Romare Bearden, Charles Searles and Joe Overstreet.[3]
By the 2000s, Brown had fallen ill; due to a series of surgeries and a partial leg amputation, Brown resided for a time in a nursing home in New York.[4] By 2005 he had moved to an assisted living facility in Hollywood, Florida, where he died in 2010, aged 79.[5]
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Marion Brown among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[6]
Influence
Pianist Amina Claudine Myers' debut album Poems for Piano: The Piano Music of Marion Brown (Sweet Earth, 1979) featured Brown's compositions predominantly.
Aside from his influence in the jazz avant-garde, several other areas of music have taken interest in Brown's music. Indie rockers Superchunk included a song called "Song for Marion Brown" on their album Indoor Living, and Savath and Savalas released a piece entitled "Two Blues for Marion Brown" as part of Hefty Records's Immediate Action series. [citation needed]
His Name Is Alive performed a tribute concert in 2004, performing solely Brown's music. In 2007, High Two released portions of the concert with studio versions as Sweet Earth Flower: A Tribute to Marion Brown. [citation needed]
Discography
As leader
- 1966: Three for Shepp (Impulse!)
- 1966: Juba Lee (Fontana)
- 1966: Why Not? (ESP-Disk)
- 1967: Marion Brown Quartet (ESP/Fontana)
- 1967: Porto Novo (Arista)
- 1968: Gesprächsfetzen with Gunter Hampel (Calig)
- 1969: In Sommerhausen with Gunter Hampel and Jeanne Lee
- 1970: Afternoon of a Georgia Faun (ECM)
- 1973: Duets (Freedom)
- 1973: Geechee Recollections (Impulse!)
- 1974: Sweet Earth Flying (Impulse!)
- 1975: Vista (Impulse!)
- 1976: Awofofora (Discomate)
- 1977: La Placita / Live in Willisau (Timeless Muse)
- 1977: Solo Saxophone (Sweet Earth)
- 1977: Zenzile Featuring Marion Brown (Baystate)
- 1978: Reeds 'n Vibes with Gunter Hampel (Improvising Artists)
- 1978: Passion Flower (Baystate)
- 1979: November Cotton Flower (Baystate)
- 1979: Soul Eyes (Baystate)
- 1980: Back to Paris (Freelance)
- 1983: Gemini (Birth)
- 1985: Recollections (Creative Works)
- 1985: Songs of Love and Regret with Mal Waldron (Freelance)
- 1988: Much More (Freelance)
- 1990: Native Land (ITM)
As sideman
With John Coltrane
- Ascension (Impulse!, 1965)
With Stanley Cowell
- Regeneration (Strata-East, 1976)
With Archie Shepp
- Fire Music (Impulse!, 1965)
- Attica Blues (Impulse!, 1972)
With Harold Budd
- The Pavilion of Dreams (Editions EG, 1976)
References
- ^ [1] Archived March 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Marion Brown, Free-Jazz Saxophonist, Dies at 79". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
- ^ a b c d e Marion Brown: Recollections. Frankfurt a. Main: J. A. Schmidt, 1984.
- ^ "Jazz article: A Fireside Chat with Marion Brown". Allaboutjazz.com. 2003-04-11. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
- ^ "Good news from Marion Brown - Artists - organissimo forums". Organissimo.org. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
- ^ Rosen, Jody (June 25, 2019). "Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire". The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
External links
- "A Fireside Chat with Marion Brown" from All About Jazz
- Audio Recordings of WCUW Jazz Festivals - Jazz History Database
- Marion Brown Discography
- WorldCat entry for Brown's ethnomusicology thesis.
- You See What I'm Trying to Say (1967) Henry English film on Marion Brown
- 1931 births
- 2010 deaths
- Musicians from Atlanta
- Musicians from Georgia (U.S. state)
- Avant-garde jazz musicians
- American jazz alto saxophonists
- American male saxophonists
- American musicologists
- Howard University alumni
- Wesleyan University alumni
- Brandeis University faculty
- Bowdoin College faculty
- Colby College faculty
- Amherst College faculty
- Freedom Records artists
- ESP-Disk artists
- Timeless Records artists
- Impulse! Records artists
- DIW Records artists
- ECM Records artists
- Disease-related deaths in Florida
- Male jazz musicians
- Improvising Artists Records artists