Alex Brown Jazz Pianist from New York City, NY

Jazz pianist and composer Alex Brown is quickly establishing both a national and international reputation. In 2007, Alex joined the group of nine-time Grammy-Award-winner Paquito D’Rivera, which also features band members Diego Urcola, Oscar Stagnaro, Mark Walker, and Pernell Saturnino. Alex has also performed with musicians including Jane Bunnett, Jon Faddis, Slide Hampton, Terell Stafford, Gary Thomas, Dave Valentin, Miguel Zenon, and Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Alex has performed at a wide array of venues and events including Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes, Regattabar in Boston, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Carnegie Hall, the Panama Jazz Festival, Baltimore's Artscape Festival, the Greater Hartford Jazz Festival, the Curacao Jazz Festival, the Telluride Jazz Festival in Colorado, and Blues Alley in Washington, DC. Alex has been interviewed multiple times on Washington’s jazz station, WPFW, and has appeared on BET on Jazz. In 2007, Alex was a winner as a pianist in the Jazz Soloist category of Downbeat Magazine's Student Music Awards. He had previously won four "Outstanding Awards" including one for his Latin-jazz arrangement of Kol Han'shama, a traditional Jewish folksong which is included on his CD, "Montrose Towing." Alex had received the other three awards in 2005 for his piano and violin performances, and for his Big Band composition, "Superman." Recently in 2007, Alex received his second Honorable Mention from the ASCAP Foundation in their annual Young Jazz Composer Awards. In 2003, ASCAP awarded Alex with an Honorable Mention for his composition, "Take the T,” which was inspired by the Boston transit system. Subsequently, “Take the T” was performed in concert by the U.S. Army’s premier Big Band, the Jazz Ambassadors. In the fall of 2004, Alex was the youngest member ever accepted into the prestigious BMI Jazz Composers’ Workshop in New York City, which he attended for a year. Alex is also an accomplished classical musician. At the age of 13, he performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue in its entirety with a full orchestra. In November 2007, along with Paquito D’Rivera and soprano Brenda Feliciano, Alex performed with Mexico’s National Symphony, under the direction of conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto. In addition to touring nationally and internationally with Paquito D’Rivera, Alex performs regularly as the leader of his own jazz group. In addition, he teaches and has led master classes at such institutions as the University of Panama. Alex has released two CD’s under his name, entitled “Introducing Alex Brown” (2004) and “Montrose Towing” (2006). In 2009, he graduated from New England Conservatory where he studied with Danilo Perez and Charlie Banacos, among others.