John Brown "little" Big Band

Bassist, composer, educator and actor John Brown is a native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, and currently resides in Durham, NC. He is a graduate of the School of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the School of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has served on the faculties of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Central University and Guilford College (Greensboro, NC). John started teaching at Duke University in January of 2001, and currently serves as Vice Provost for the Arts, Director of the Jazz Program and Professor of the Practice of Music. He has been performing professionally since his teens, and has performed internationally with artists like Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, Elvin Jones, Nnenna Freelon, Cyrus Chestnut, Diahann Carroll, Rosemary Clooney, Nell Carter, Lou Donaldson, Slide Hampton, Nicholas Payton, Frank Foster, Larry Coryell, Cedar Walton, Fred Wesley, Bernard Purdie and Mark Whitfield, as well as giving regular performances as a substitute with the North Carolina Symphony since 1992. He has performed for President Barack Obama, and at major national and international venues and festivals in Asia, Europe and across North and South America.

John has a GRAMMY nomination for his performance and co-writing on Nnenna Freelon’s 1996 Concord release, Shaking Free, and he has an EMMY nomination for producing the first Duke Student Arts Showcase. He has also produced and performed on recordings for Nnenna Freelon and Linda Lavin. The film One Night in Kernersville (documenting the first recording session of John’s Big Band) won “Best Short Film” at the Full Frame Film Festival, “Best Cinematography” at the Charlotte Film Festival and was featured on the Documentary Channel. John has also served multiple times as a juror and as Chair for the Pulitzer Prize in Music and for various engagements with the National Endowment for the Arts. He has actively performed and recorded internationally as a sideman and a leader, produced recordings and given education residencies for students across the nation. He has also directed an all-star youth jazz ensemble, is a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild, The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, is a YAMAHA Certified String Instructor and serves on several boards including the Nina Simone Charitable Trust, Discover Durham (Tourism Development Authority), UNC-Greensboro College of Visual and Performing Arts, and the Duke Cancer Patient Support Program.