Tom Brown, sometimes known by the nickname Red Brown (June 3, 1888 – March 25, 1958), was an early New Orleans jazz trombonist. He also played string bass professionally. A nickname is a short, clever, cute, derogatory, or otherwise substitute name for a person or things real name (for example, Tom is short for Thomas). ... June 3 is the 154th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (155th in leap years), with 211 days remaining. ... 1888 is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... March 25 is the 84th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (85th in leap years). ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jazz master Louis Armstrong remains one of the most loved and best known of all jazz musicians. ... A trombonist is a musician who plays the trombone. ... Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ...

Tom Brown in the early 1910s

Tom P. Brown was born in Uptown New Orleans, Louisiana. His younger brother Steve Brown also became a prominent professional musician. He played trombone with the bands of Papa Jack Laine and Frank Christian; by 1910 usually worked leading bands under his own name. The band played in a style then locally known as "hot ragtime" or "ratty music". In early 1915 his band was heard by Vaudeville dancer Joe Frisco, who arranged a job for Brown's band in Chicago, Illinois. Trombonist Tom Brown, early 1910s, from a period promotional postcard This image is in the public domain in the United States and possibly other jurisdictions. ... New Orleans (local pronunciations: , , or ) (French: La Nouvelle-Orléans, pronounced in standard French accent) is a major U.S. port city and historically the largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. ... Steve Brown Steve Brown first went north to Chicago in 1915 with brother Tom in the first wave of jazz musicians to go to the city. ... George Vital Laine aka Papa Jack (September 21, 1873 - June 1, 1966) was the most busy and perhaps the most important band leader in New Orleans in the years from the Spanish-American War to World War I. Laine in 1906 Many of the New Orleans musicians who first spread... Frank Joseph Christian (September 3, 1887 - November 27, 1973) was an early jazz trumpeter. ... -1... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Vaudeville is a style of multi-act theatre which flourished in North America from the 1880s through the 1920s. ... Chicago, known as the Second City and the Windy City, is the third-largest city in population in the United States, following New York City and Los Angeles. ...

On May 15, 1915, Tom Brown's Band from Dixieland opened up at Lamb's Cafe at Clark & Randolph Streets in Chicago, with Ray Lopez, cornet and manager; Tom Brown, trombone and leader; Gussie Mueller clarinet, Arnold Loyacano piano and string bass; and Billy Lambert on drums. In Chicago Gussie Mueller was hired by bandleader Bert Kelly, and his place was taken by young New Orleans clarinetist Larry Sheilds. May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (136th in leap years). ... Gustave Gus Gussie Mueller (New Orleans, Louisiana April 17, 1890 - Hollywood, California December 16, 1965) was an early jazz clarinetist. ... Lawrence J. Larry Shields (September 13, 1893 - November 21, 1953) was an early jazz clarinetist. ...

This band seems to be the first band to be popularly referred to as playing "Jazz", or as it was spelled early on "Jass". According to Brown once his band started enjoying popularity the local Chicago musicians union began picketing Brown's band of non-union out of towners. One picketer made placards intending to link Brown's band with the Storyville prostitution district of New Orleans and the implied disreputable low life status; the signs read "Don't Patronize This Jass Music". The term "jass" at that time had a sexual connotation. The signs had the opposite of the intended effect; more people came to hear the band out of curiousity as to what "Jass Music" might be and how it could be performed in public. Brown realized the publicity potential and started calling his group "Brown's Jass Band". Some recently rediscovered Chicago newspaper advertisements list it as "Brown's Jab Band" or "Jad Band", confirming the reminscences of Ray Lopez that the bandmembers assumed that "Jass" was too rude a word to be printed in the newspapers so they looked in a dictionary for printable words close to it, like "jade". Storyville was the legalized prostitution district of New Orleans, Louisiana from 1897 through 1917. ... A woman who exercises prostitution in Germany Prostitution is the sale of sexual services, such as oral sex or sexual intercourse, for money. ...

Years later, Brown would frequently brag that he led "the first white jazz band" to go up north. Brown's careful wording implies that he was aware that the Original Creole Orchestra preceded him and that they played jazz.

Tom Brown's Band enjoyed over 4 months of success in Chicago before moving to New York City, where it played for 4 months more before returning to New Orleans in February of 1916. Upon arriving home Brown immediately started rounding up another band to go back to Chicago with him. The group again included Larry Sheilds; at the end of October Brown agreed to switch clarinetists with the Original Dixieland Jass Band bringing Alcide Nunez into his band. Brown, Nunez and New Orleans drummer Ragbaby Stevens then went to work for Bert Kelly, who brought them to New York where they temporarily replaced the Original Dixieland Jass Band at Reisenweber's in 1918. Brown started doing freelance recording work with New York dance and novelty bands, then joined the band of Harry Yerkes. At the start of 1920 he was joined in the Yerkes Band by Alcide Nunez. The Empire State Building (right) and the Chrysler Building (left) are easily recognized symbols of New York City to the world. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January-February January 1 -The first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ... Shown are (left to right) Tony Sbarbaro (aka Tony Spargo) on drums; Edwin Daddy Edwards on trombone; D. James Nick LaRocca on cornet; Larry Shields on clarinet, and Henry Ragas on piano. ... Alcide Nunez (March 17, 1884 - September 2, 1934) was an early jazz clarinetist. ... Joe Stevens, generally known as Ragbaby or Rag Baby Stevens, (January, 1887 - 1927) was an early New Orleans ragtime and jazz drummer. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... 1920 (MCMXX) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ...

Tom Brown also played on Vaudeville in the acts of Joe Frisco and Ed Wynn. Ed Wynn (November 9, 1886 - June 19, 1966) was a popular United States entertainer, born Isaiah Edward Leopold in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

About late 1921 Brown returned to Chicago and joined Ray Miller's Black & White Melody Boys, with whom he made more recordings. During this period he also co- lead a dance band with his brother Steve.

In the mid 1920s he returned home to New Orleans where he played with Johnny Bayersdorffer and Norman Brownlee's bands, making a few excellent recordings. Sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or primarily in North America and in Australia as the Roaring Twenties . In Europe it is sometimes refered to as the Golden Twenties. ...

During the Great Depression he supplimented his income from music by repairing radios. He opened up a music shop and a junk shop on Magazine Street. He played string bass in local swing and dance bands. With the revival of interest in traditional jazz he played in various Dixieland bands in the 1950s, notably that of Johnny Wiggs. A local television station thought it would be a good idea to invite Brown and Nick LaRocca to talk about how jazz first spread north from New Orleans, but the show had scaresly started before the two old men got into an argument that turned into a fist-fight. The Great Depression was a massive global economic recession (or depression) that ran from 1929 to approximately 1939. ... Musically, swing can be either: (written with small s), refers to swung notes, the rhythmic feeling evoked by swinging music, esp. ... Dixieland or Dixie is a name for the south-eastern portion of the USA; see: U.S. Southern States, Dixie. ... // Events and trends This map shows two essential global spheres during the Cold War in 1959. ... Nick LaRocca. ...

Tom Brown made his last recording just weeks before his death, his trombone playing apparently not suffering from the fact that he had neither teeth nor dentures at the time. Brown died in New Orleans.

External link

• Tom Brown in His Own Words short 1957 interview, mostly about his early recordings