At 4:30pm on Sunday, July 19, the Christopher Brown Quartet will perform at the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival 2020!
The 40th Annual Cathedral Park Jazz Festival is live streaming online this year! Click here to access the Twitch online live streaming of this performance!
Multi-instrumentalist Christopher Brown is an acclaimed musician, composer, bandleader, and educator who seeks to be one of the leading voices within the advocacy of Jazz music and American culture. And through the expansive range of groups he has assembled and/or performed with—which range from duos to Jazz big bands to military marching bands and orchestras—his musical and personal experiences have led him towards a deep interest in synthesizing the principles of Jazz music with the day-to-day practicalities of life. And as such, his local, national, and international reputation is what it is today.
A native of Portland, OR., Christopher’s initial interest in music is linked to that of his father’s [Mel Brown] career as a musician. However, his path looks quite different from that of his father, in that he’s a 20 year veteran between the Marine Corps and the Army National Guard, a graduate of Rutgers University in NJ (BM 04’/ MM 06’), as well a former professor of Jazz history and theory at his alma mater, in addition to experiences in front of the camera through movies such as “Mr. Hollands Opus” (Richard Dreyfuss) and “American Gangster” (Denzel Washington/Russell Crowe), tv, and print ad work.
Some of his musical credits include work with such notable artists as Beyonce, Esperanza Spualding, Liv Warfield, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Ray Charles, Jimmy Heath, Ralph Bowen, Ralph Peterson Jr., Conrad Herwig, Steve Turre, Paquito D’Rivera, Claudio Roditi, Charles Fambrough, Benny Golson, Bobby Watson, Craig Handy, Orrin Evans, Terry Gibbs, Buddy Defranco, Vincent Herring, Javon Jackson, Stanley Cowell, Wess Anderson, Antonio Hart, Paul Bollenback, David Sanborn, Geoff Keezer, Onaje Allen Gumbs, James Genus, Don Alias, Don Braden, Victor Goines, Anthony Wonsey, Jim Rotondi, Valerie Ponomarev, Delbert Felix, Ben Tucker, Virgil Jones, Vic Juris, Boris Koslov, John Stubblefield, Darren Barrett, Jon Gordon, Roseanna Vitro, Lonnie Plaxico, John Cowherd, Kenny Davis, Carla Cook, David Leibman, Ronnie Mathews, Sean Jones, Marquis Hill, Arturo O’Farrill, Randy Brecker, Chuck Israels, George Colligan, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, John Pattitucci, Kamasi Washington, Darrell Grant, and Mel Brown.
In addition to his performing schedule, Christopher has not only expanded his efforts into the realm of public speaking as a way to synthesize his understanding of music, business, and leadership for the benefit of businesses and various entrepreneurial organizations throughout the greater Portland area, but he also sits on the boards for the “Cathedral Park Jazz Festival,” “TASTE for Equity,” and Habitat for Humanity’s “Ambassador Council.”
