Philip Brown
Associate Professor
210 Altgeld
phibrown@siu.edu
618/453-5812
Since 1991, Brown has been Associate Professor of Double Bass and Jazz Studies, as well as Coordinator of Music Business at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He performs regularly with the New Arts Jazztet (NAJ), whose growing reputation has placed them at schools and prime jazz venues throughout the Midwest. The NAJ with Phil Brown performed as part of a live statewide television broadcast, Arts Across Illinois: Center Stage (2004), at WTTW/Channel 11, Chicago. The group is featured along with FourOnSix on Phil Brown's latest recording, Darkness Into Light (Carbondale: a caldera productions, 2006). The NAJ is again featured on Brown's forthcoming CD, Bright Side (Carbondale: a caldera productions, 2009). Brown has fronted his own group as well, introduced on the recording, Hope Street Saunter (Carbondale: a caldera productions, 2003) with the Phil Brown Quartet, featuring guitarist Fareed Haque, pianist Bradley Williams, and drummer Tom Hipskind. Both recordings are available at www.acaldera.com. He also can be heard (uncredited) on the compact discs that accompany the two-volume Jazz Tunes For Improvisation by Dan Haerle et al. (Miami: Warner Bros., 1983) with the North Texas State University Faculty Jazz Group; and on a number of other recordings.
Notable among the many jazz artists with whom Brown has performed are Pepper Adams, Ray Anthony, Tex Beneke, Lockjaw Davis, Herb Ellis, Steve Gadd, Red Garland, Dizzy Gillespie, Tom Harrell, Al Hirt, Delfeayo Marsalis, Marilyn May, Mark Murphy, Clark Terry and Willie Thomas. He has played a typical array of shows as well -- Frankie Avalon, John Denver, Disney On Parade, the Fifth Dimension, the Four Freshmen, John Gary, Gypsy (revival with Tyne Daly), Bob Hope, the Ice Capades, Rich Little, the Lettermen, the Moody Blues, Debbie Reynolds, Bobby Vinton, and many others.
As a jazz educator, Brown has served as a clinician and adjudicator at a number of jazz camps and festivals, including the Fiesta Jazz Festival, the Longhorn Jazz Festival, the Southern Illinois Jazz Festival, and the Wichita Jazz Festival and most recently, the University of Louisville's Jazz Week.
As an orchestra bassist, Brown was principal with the Paducah Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed as a full-time member of the Amarillo Symphony (principal) and the Jacksonville Symphony (2nd desk) and as a guest member of the Northwest Indiana, the Savannah and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras.
While with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Brown was staff arranger and wrote a number of "top 40 " arrangements for orchestra and rhythm section. These selections have been performed by the Jacksonville, the Louisville, the Hartford, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestras, among others. His more recent writing efforts have produced almost 3 dozen originals for the New Arts Jazz Quintet. The Illinois Arts Council honored Brown for his work and commitment within the arts with a 2003 Artist Fellowship Award in music composition.
Brown received his Master of Music Education Degree with an emphasis in jazz studies from North Texas State University. There, as a graduate teaching fellow, he instructed both double bass and jazz ensemble. He was also a member of NTSU's highly acclaimed jazz ensemble, the One O'Clock Lab Band. Brown's undergraduate work was completed at Northwestern University, where he received his Bachelor of Music in Composition.
Brown's bass teachers have included Lawrence Hurst, Ringwalt Warner, Evan Tonsing, Warren Benfield and Edward Rainbow. He studied composition with M. William Karlins and Luciano Berio. Brown is a native of Amarillo, Texas.
Sound/Video Clips
- Coming Soon
Personal Statement
Coming Soon
Courses
- MUS 015: Lab Jazz Orchestra
- MUS 016: Jazz Combos
- MUS 040O-540O: Applied Double Bass
- MUS 257: Intern-Work Experience
- MUS 323: Instrumentation
- MUS 487: Music Business Senior Project