Ari Brown
Ari Brown grew up in Chicago and attended Wilson College, where he met musicians such as Jack DeJohnette, Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell, and Joseph Jarman. He began his professional career in the 1960s, performing soul, rock, blues, jazz, and R&B throughout the Midwest and along the East Coast with such artists as Gene Chandler, B.B. King, and Chuck Berry. He joined the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) in 1971, and also played with the ensemble led by Ken Chaney, The Awakening in the early 1970s. He graduated from Chicago’s Vandercook School of Music and has been active as an educator, teaching at Chicago Public Schools, Columbia College Chicago, the Chicago Conservatory of Music, and other venues. In 1974 he lost several teeth in a car crash, and temporarily switched to piano again until he recovered. He played sax later in the 1970s with McCoy Tyner, Don Patterson, and Sonny Stitt. In the 1980s, he started his own quintet, and also worked with Lester Bowie, Von Freeman, Bobby Watson, Elvin Jones and Anthony Braxton. In 1989 he became a member of Kahil El'Zabar's trio. In 1995, he recorded his first album as a leader, titled Ultimate Frontier, and released by Delmark Records.
