Dec. 27, 2009

Norman Brown -- Smooth Jazz's Stormin' Personality

Smooth jazz guitarist Norman Brown, who just celebrated a birthday on Dec. 18, has been having a torrid love affair with music since he was eight years old, after his family had relocated to Kansas City, MO, from Brown's birthplace of Shreveport, LA.  It was in Kansas City that Brown first heard the mind-blowing brilliance of the late guitar icon and legend Jimi Hendrix, and he then became determined to make the guitar his life. The obligatory garage rock apprenticeship followed, but it was Brown's steelworker father who eventually introduced his son to the equally life-changing influence of the great, equally iconic Wes Montgomery and turned his talents toward jazz.

After graduating high school, Brown headed west to study at the renowned Musician's Institute in Los Angeles, eventually landing a teaching job at the school even as he put together his first jazz combo and began playing on the city's thriving club scene. Adding George Benson to his list of seminal influences, Brown had already garnered a small but fanatical following when he landed his first recording contract with Motown Records. Over the course of the next four years, he released three critically acclaimed albums, Just Between Us (1992), the gold-selling After The Storm (1994), and Better Days Ahead (1996). The decade drew to a close with a new label, Warner Bros. Records, and one of his most accomplished and assured offerings, Celebration, which marked the beginning of his fruitful collaboration with ace producer Paul Brown.

Celebration was followed, two years later, by the Grammy winning Just Chillin', spotlighting an altogether more laid-back sound and an array of top-tier supporting vocalists that included Michael McDonald, Chante Moore, Miki Howard, and others.

The album was followed by a further round of extensive touring that included standing-room-only appearances in North America, Japan, Europe, and Africa, where Brown played for wildly appreciative audiences. Even with his packed calendar, he somehow managed to find time to begin writing new material that built and elaborated on the innovations of West Coast Coolin'.

"I knew I wanted to get more into singing," he reveals, "so most of the songs I wrote had that purpose in mind. At the same time I wanted to move deeper into the R&B grooves that I'd been exploring both on stage and in the studio. I was interested, more than anything, it giving the music the space to evolve." That intent got a powerful boost with a 2002 Grammy for Just Chillin' as Best Pop Instrumental. "It was a tremendous affirmation," Brown acknowledges. "I knew I was heading in the right direction."

Since West Coast Coolin’, which Brown says brought him to some of the most singularly satisfying musical soundscapes of his lifelong journey ("It's important to reach your audience, to give them an experience they will remember"), the guitarist has unleashed Stay With Me (2007), which includes a funky nod to the collaboration he had formed in 2002 with trumpeter Rick Braun and saxman Kirk Whalum (aka BWB).  The CD only further struts down Brown’s successful path and adds more brilliance to the already bright star that continues to follow him everywhere.
 
As energetic and engaging live as he is on record, Norman Brown has continuously lived up to the standard for originality with each concert and every new album. -- Ronald Jackson
 

Remaining 2009 concert calendar for Norman Brown

Norman Brown has no remaining tour dates in 2009.