Alex Brown

ALEX BROWN

GRAMMY award-winning pianist and composer Alex Brown is at the forefront of a new generation of artists.  The New York Times says he plays “with a crystalline touch and a worldly approach.”  In 2021, Brown released his second album as a leader, The Dark Fire Sessions.  He has performed on and contributed music to GRAMMY award-winning and nominated albums with artists that include Imani Winds, Harlem Quartet, Paquito D’Rivera, Dafnis Prieto, and Brian Lynch.  A member of D’Rivera’s regular group since 2007, Brown has also collaborated with artists in a wide array of genres that include Valerie Coleman, Sean Jones, Cho-Liang Lin, Yo-Yo Ma, Armando Manzanero, Christian McBride, the New York Voices, David Sanchez, David Shifrin, Chris Thile (on the former American variety show Live from Here), Warren Wolf, and Miguel Zenon.  In 2016, he performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue as a soloist with the Orquesta Symphonica de Mineria led by conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto in Mexico City.  Brown has performed in many of the world’s greatest venues and festivals including the Kennedy Center, Newport Jazz Festival, and the Hollywood Bowl. 

As a composer and arranger, Brown seamlessly combines his classical training with his background as a jazz musician in a way that defies categorization.  In 2023, he wrote the string quartet arrangements for Kendrick Scott’s composition Unearthed featuring the Harlem Quartet.  From 2022-2023, Brown collaborated with SF-based rapper Andre Nickatina in a project reimagining Nickatina’s music for orchestra.  He has written orchestral and big band commissions for artists including Bobby Broom and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, and Paquito D’Rivera.  Brown has produced and composed music for film, television, and commercial campaigns for Orbitz, Zimmermann, Omega, and Vogue.  He earned his Bachelor of Music degree in jazz performance at the New England Conservatory and his Master of Music degree in studio jazz composition at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.  Brown currently serves on the faculty at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  He has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.  Brown is a YAMAHA artist.

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY:

• Victor Provost and Alex Brown “Island to Island” (Coming May 30, 2025)

• Omar Thomas “Griot Songs” (2025)

• Warren Wolf “History of the Vibraphone” (2024)

• Imani Winds, Harlem Quartet “Passion for Bach and Coltrane” (2023) - GRAMMY Award-Winner

• Brian Lynch “Songbook Vol​.​2: Dance The Way You Want To” (2022)

• Alex Brown “The Dark Fire Sessions” (2021)

• Michael Torke “Psalms and Canticles” (2021)

• Dafnis Prieto “Transparency” (2020) - GRAMMY Nominated

• Chad LB Virtual Big Band “Quarantine Standards” (2020)

• Brian Lynch “The Omni-American Book Club” (2019) - GRAMMY Award-Winner

• Haerim Elizabeth Lee “My Time Is Now” (2019)

• Victor Provost “Bright Eyes” (2017)

• Paquito D’Rivera, Armando Manzanero “Paquito & Manzanero” (2015)

• Miho Hazama “Time River” (2015)

• Jeff Scott "The Gift of Life - The Urban Classical Music Project, Vol. 1" (2015)

• Paquito D’Rivera “Jazz Meets the Classics” (2014) - Latin GRAMMY Award-Winner

• Omar Thomas Large Ensemble “I Am” (2013)

• Alex Brown “Pianist” (2010)

• Alondra de la Parra / Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas “Mi Alma Mexicana / My Mexican Soul” (2010)

• Imani Winds “Terra Incognita” (2010)

• Paquito D’Rivera and Sabine Meyer “Jazz Clazz” (2009) - GRAMMY Nominated