The New Arts Jazztet is Tyler Kuebler, reeds; Bob Allison, trumpet/flugelhorn; Mel Goot, piano; Phil Brown, bass; Ron Coulter, drums; and Tom Hensold, percussion.
“Phil's music is as much fun to listen to as it is for the musicians to play. They obviously have a blast, and their warmth, groove and swing are highly contagious. Great feeling on both sides of the loudspeakers!"
-- Jean-Michel Pilc
About Phil Brown
As a professional jazz musician and educator, Phil Brown has no shortage of credits. He presently is based in southern Illinois where he also is active as a free-lance bassist.
Since 1991, Brown has been Associate Professor of Jazz Studies and Double Bass, 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 the group 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 Browns latest recording, Darkness Into Light (Carbondale: a caldera productions, 2006). The New Arts Jazztet is featured on Brown's forthcoming CD, Bright Side (Carbondale: a caldera productions, 2009). Brown has fronted his own studio group as well, introduced on the release, Hope Street Saunter (Carbondale: a caldera productions, 2003) with the Phil Brown Quartet, featuring guitarist Fareed Haque, pianist Bradley Williams, and drummer Tom Hipskind. He also can be heard on the compact discs that accompany the two-volume Jazz Tunes For Improvisation by Dan Haerle, Jack Petersen and Rich Matteson (Miami: Warner Bros., 1983, 1997), with the North Texas State University Faculty Jazz Group, and on a number of other recordings.
Notable among the many other jazz artists with whom Brown has performed are Pepper Adams, Lockjaw Davis, Herb Ellis, Steve Gadd, Red Garland, Dizzy Gillespie, Tom Harrell, Delfeayo Marsalis, Mark Murphy, and Clark Terry.
Brown received a Master of Music Education degree with an emphasis in jazz studies from North Texas State University. There, as a graduate teaching fellow, he was an instructor of both jazz ensemble and double bass. He also was 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 a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition.
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, the Wichita Jazz Festival, and most recently, the University of Louisvilles Jazz Week.
For several years, Brown was staff arranger for the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, writing a number of pop arrangements for orchestra with 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 Jazztet. In 2003, the Illinois Arts Council honored Brown for his work and commitment within the arts with an Artist Fellowship Award in music composition.
Browns 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.
