Chris Brown Quartet at Makeda Ethiopian Restaurant

The Chris Brown Quartet
Drummer Chris Brown featuring Joel Frahm on tenor sax, Alex Collins on piano
and Yasushi Nakamura on bass.

Chris Brown, was born in Beaverton, Oregon and raised in Portland. He began his formal music training with piano lessons and inspired by his father, former Motown drummer and Portland jazz luminary, Mel Brown, Chris added sax and drums to his musical palette by age eleven. His jazz trio was awarded DownBeat Magazine’s “Best High School Instrumental Group.” Chris joined the U.S. Marine Corps and during his four years of active duty built his musical skills and worked with local artists wherever he was assigned, including the legendary Marsalis family in New Orleans...

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The Chris Brown Quartet
Drummer Chris Brown featuring Joel Frahm on tenor sax, Alex Collins on piano
and Yasushi Nakamura on bass.

Chris Brown, was born in Beaverton, Oregon and raised in Portland. He began his formal music training with piano lessons and inspired by his father, former Motown drummer and Portland jazz luminary, Mel Brown, Chris added sax and drums to his musical palette by age eleven. His jazz trio was awarded DownBeat Magazine’s “Best High School Instrumental Group.” Chris joined the U.S. Marine Corps and during his four years of active duty built his musical skills and worked with local artists wherever he was assigned, including the legendary Marsalis family in New Orleans. Christopher moved to New Brunswick in 1999 where he completed both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Jazz Studies/Performance at Rutgers. He has performed with Buddy Defranco and Terry Gibbs, Roy Hargrove, Benny Golson, Ralph Bowen, Charles Fambrough, Onaje Allen Gumbs, Gerald Clayton, Paul Bollenback, Ron Affif, John Stubblefield, Darren Barrett, Sean Jones, Frank Lacey, John Benitez, Lonnie Plaxico, Carla Cook, Rosana Vitro, Essiest Essiet, Don Braden, Antonio Hart, Kenny Davis, Ronnie Matthews among others. Brown currently serves as the principle saxophonist in the N.J. Army National Guard Band and is both a Professor of Jazz History and assistant director of the Summer Jazz Institute at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ.

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