Chris Brown (pianist)

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Chris Brown (born September 9, 1953 in Mendota , Illinois ) is an American pianist and composer who has emerged as an interpreter of new music as well as a jazz and improvisation musician , but has also created sound sculptures .

Live and act

Brown studied with Gordon Mumma , David Rosenbloom and William Brooks. He began his career as a classical pianist before turning to avant-garde and jazz music. From the 1980s he played in the formation Room with William Winant and Larry Ochs ; he also composed for the Rova Saxophone Quartet . In 1989 he presented his debut album Snakecharmer (Artifact), which contains his own electro-acoustic music , followed by the album Lava ( Tzadik , 1995) produced by John Zorn , a multi-movement composition for wind quartet, four percussionists and live electronics. The 1996 album Master Switch Electroacoustic Music 1978–81 contains other electro-acoustic compositions . In 2011 the album Iconicities (3 Pieces for Percussion and Live Electronics) (New World Horizons) was released.

As a pianist he interpreted compositions by James Tenney , Henry Cowell and Luc Ferrari ; as an interpreter of his own compositions, he presented the album Six Primes (New World Horizons). As an improviser, he has worked with Pauline Oliveros , Wadada Leo Smith , Butch Morris , Frank Gratkowski , Anthony Braxton , Glenn Spearman , Biggi Vinkeloe , Myles Boisen and Roscoe Mitchell throughout his career . In the field of jazz he was involved in 30 recording sessions between 1985 and 2012. Brown also worked on building electronic instruments and sound installations, which he called Talking Drum , and performed in San Francisco, Montreal and the Netherlands. Brown teaches composition and electronic music as a professor of music at Mills College in Oakland .

Discographic notes

  • Rogue Wave (Tzadik, 2005)
  • Fred Frith / Chris Brown: Cutter ( Intakt Records , 2007)
  • Frank Gratkowski / Chris Brown / William Winant: Wake ( Red Toucan Records , 2008)
  • Chris Brown / Pauline Oliveros: Music in the Air (Deep Listening, 2009)
  • Iconicities (3 Pieces for Percussion and Live Electronics) ( New World Records , 2011)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chris Brown in: Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed February 20, 2019)
  2. ^ Kuhn / Brown / Nordeson / Walton, January 14 in San Francisco. Avant Music News, January 9, 2018, accessed February 20, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Brown, Chris
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pianist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH September 9, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Mendota , Illinois