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John V. Brown

Associate Professor of the Practice of Music and Director of the Jazz Program

Professor Brown has taught at Duke since 2001, and became Director of the Jazz Program in 2004 after a year as the Visiting Director of the Jazz Program. He is a native of Fayetteville, NC and is a graduate of the School of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the School of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. John began studying the bass when he was nine years old and has been performing professionally since his teens. As an undergraduate, John also developed a great love for jazz, and began pursuing careers in both jazz and classical music.

John has performed in the United States and abroad with artists like Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, Elvin Jones, Diahann Carroll, Nell Carter, Rosemary Clooney, Lou Donaldson, Frank Foster, David “Fathead Newman, Nicholas Payton, Cedar Walton, Fred Wesley and Mark Whitfield, and he boasts a Grammy Nomination for his performance and co- writing on Nnenna Freelon's 1995 Concord release, "Shaking Free." John has performed for major theatre productions including the Japan tour of "Blues in the Night" and he made his acting debut in 1991 when he co-starred in the role of Jimmy Powers (re-written for John as a bassist) in "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill." John has also appeared in "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," "Stompin' at the Savoy," "Radioland Murders," and "Hellraiser III." Among John's recording credits is the soundtrack for "Moon Over Miami" for ABC, done with Delfeayo Marsalis.

John currently serves as a Professor and Director of the Jazz Program at Duke University. He conducts the Duke Jazz Ensemble and the Duke Jazz Festival, coaches jazz combos and teaches academic courses and applied bass. He has also serves on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition to regular performances with the North Carolina Symphony, the Opera Company of North Carolina and the Carolina Ballet, John serves on the Boards of Directors of the American Federation of Musicians, the North Carolina Jazz Foundation and the Duke Cancer Patient Support Program.

105 Biddle Music
+1 919 660 3300
jbrown@duke.edu
www.jbjazz.com