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Roy Brown was born in Sacramento, California and was exposed to jazz music at the age of 5 by his parents who were big jazz fans. He played a number of instruments before settling with the piano. These included viola, clarinet, alto and tenor saxophones, but the piano was his true calling. He studied music throughout Junior High and High School and at a local community college. After some private lessons, he started playing piano and organ for several years in local churches. During his formative years in Sacramento, Roy worked with several R&B and fusion groups playing Fender Rhodes and various synthesizers. Upon forming his own group, Roy made the choice to pursue and perform jazz, staying within the tradition. He led the Roy Brown Quintet for seven years; an ensemble which included a singer and allowed Brown to feature his original compositions as well as established jazz standards. In 1994 he released and independently produced a CD entitled Courage on his own label, Roday Records. This CD featured a legendary drummer, the late George Walker, who was a mainstay in the Wes Montgomery group for years. Brown’s group soon began working at various jazz clubs and he performed for several private functions including all the well-known African American sorority and fraternity as well as society events within the Sacramento area. In addition, he also hosted workshops and clinics at local area high schools. Roy’s group was featured several times at the California State Fair and Exposition and he performed at the well-known Oak Park Summer Concert Series Headlined by John Handy and Class. This concert was videotaped and to this day it is still being run on a local cable channel in the Sacramento area. Roy was also featured on a local Public Broadcasting station. His group traveled to various cities including Washington D.C., New Orleans and Dallas, Texas. During this time he composed more than 30 original compositions. Not one to rest on his laurels, Roy felt the need to seek out more instruction in order to develop and grow as an artist and prior to moving to the San Francisco Bay Area he studied Composition and theory with internationally acclaimed Bay Area based pianist Mark Levine. After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, he soon found himself working with some of the finest musicians in the Bay Area including the great pianist and educator Dee Spencer as well as working briefly with acclaimed drummer Babatunde Lea, guitarist Eric Swinderman, drummer Kamau Seitu, alto saxophonist Bishop Norman Williams and singer Frankye Kelly. He had the opportunity to record a jazz demo tape of his own compositions with renowned Bay Area drummer James Levi (who was well known for his work with Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters group). . . . t h i s i s n o w !
Recently, Roy has been
working at clubs and festivals throughout the San Francisco Bay Area with
his own group and a host of different artists locally and abroad. In July of 2005 Roy performed at the Jazz Las Casas festival in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico and in November 2005 headlined the Festival International de Jazz in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico with Bay Area based singer Frankye Kelly. From February to May of 2006, Roy performed in Shanghai, China with renowned vocalist Frankye Kelly at the prestigious CJW Bund Center and the intimate jazz house CJW Xintiandi. Roy released a CD project entitled Jazz Is The Music I Play on Roday Records in 2005, featuring bassist Attila Medveczky and drummer Rob Gibson. In the immediate future, Roy will be recording a new CD featuring his working quartet with bassist Medveczky, wind player James Bailey, drummer Rusty Aceves and guest vibraphonist Yancie Taylor. Plans are also in the works to record a solo piano CD of original and standard tunes. Roy Brown lives in Oakland, California. |
