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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBROWN, Pete(b James Ostend Brown, 9 Nov. '06, Baltimore MD; d 20 Sep. '63) Alto sax; also played tenor sax and trumpet. His father was from Barbados, and played trombone; Pete began on piano and violin, switched to reeds '24, went to NYC '27, gigged freelance, and became a founder member of John Kirby's Sextet '37, and played on that group's records as Buster Bailey and his Rhythm Busters (see Bailey's entry) but soon left to lead his own bands. He preferred leading and playing in small groups and never worked in a big band during the Big Band Era, and also rarely left New York, all of which kept him from wider fame. But like Tab Smith, another very different but instantly recognizable alto, he was unique: his clipped notes and rhythmic improvisations were laid back and intense at the same time; Charlie Parker and Paul Desmond were among those said to have named him as an early influence, while his reedy, almost harsh tone made an impact in another direction: he made a distinctive contribution to the 'jump band' genre which was emerging in the '40s (and thus on later R&B), recording as a leader for Decca '42, then Session, Savoy and Keynote '44--5: at the Keynote session, on two takes of 'That's My Weakness Now', he blew strange and pretty harmony behind Ken Kersey's piano and Joe Thomas's trumpet solos on one, but mostly riffed on the other: he was a Swing Era musician with bop creeping up on him, and between '37 and '44 his own solos seemed to become even more reedy and cryptic. Complete World Jam Session '44 on Progressive was a '44 radio transcription with Jonah Jones. He augmented club gigs with teaching, among his students Cecil Payne and Flip Phillips; he made an album for Bethlehem '54, appeared at Newport '57, recorded for Verve '59, but the musical world he had been comfortable in was gone: he probably enjoyed backing Big Joe Turner on Boss Of The Blues '56 on Atlantic, playing with Basie sidemen and Ellington's Lawrence Brown on trombone. In later life he was ill with diabetes. |