Jazz Musician. An alto saxophonist, he was a leading figure of the 1960s jazz avant-garde movement. Raised in Harlem, he studied music at Clark College, and pre-law at Howard University. He joined the Army band during his service, and upon returning home to New York City during the early 1960s, befriended poet Amiri Baraka, while acquiring musical experience with Ornette Coleman and Archie Shepp. He found wider recognition, as he contributed to John Coltrane's acclaimed album "Ascension" (1965), and furthered his popularity with his own notable records, which include "Marion Brown Quartet" (1965), "Why Not?" (1966) and "Three For Shepp". During the late-1960s Brown devoted three years of his career touring Europe, where he became immensely popular, and returned to the US in 1970 to record perhaps his most memorable album "Afternoon of a Georgia Faun". Later in the decade, Brown held various faculty positions at such institutions as Bowdion College, Brandies University, Amherst College and Wesleyan University. Brown spent the last decade of his life in failing health and died in an assisted care establishment in Florida.
Jazz Musician. An alto saxophonist, he was a leading figure of the 1960s jazz avant-garde movement. Raised in Harlem, he studied music at Clark College, and pre-law at Howard University. He joined the Army band during his service, and upon returning home to New York City during the early 1960s, befriended poet Amiri Baraka, while acquiring musical experience with Ornette Coleman and Archie Shepp. He found wider recognition, as he contributed to John Coltrane's acclaimed album "Ascension" (1965), and furthered his popularity with his own notable records, which include "Marion Brown Quartet" (1965), "Why Not?" (1966) and "Three For Shepp". During the late-1960s Brown devoted three years of his career touring Europe, where he became immensely popular, and returned to the US in 1970 to record perhaps his most memorable album "Afternoon of a Georgia Faun". Later in the decade, Brown held various faculty positions at such institutions as Bowdion College, Brandies University, Amherst College and Wesleyan University. Brown spent the last decade of his life in failing health and died in an assisted care establishment in Florida.
Bio by: C.S.
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