Mel Brown (born 25 July 1944) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

, and one of the most prominent

musicians in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, United States.

Early life

Brown was born in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

in 1944. He had a paper route delivering papers through what is known as Portland's Jazz district. In high school Brown was very involved with the Portland Junior Symphony while attending

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...

. While at the university, he invested his time playing at local Jazz Clubs and played/recorded with a group called "Billy Larkin & The Delegates" on Aura/

World Pacific Pacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles-based record company and label best known for cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded in 1952 by producer Richard Bock (1927–1988) and drummer Roy Harte (1924–2003). Harte, in 1954, also co-founded ...

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...

. Brown graduated from Portland State University and moved to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

where he got a steady gig playing with the guitarist

Tommy Chong Thomas B. Kin Chong (born May 24, 1938) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, musician, activist. He is known for his marijuana-themed Cheech & Chong comedy albums and movies with Cheech Marin, as well as playing the character Leo on Fox's ' ...

Martha Reeves Martha Rose Reeves (born July 18, 1941) is an American R&B and pop singer. She is the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas which scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Come and Get These Memories", " Nowhere to R ...

happened to be at one of his gigs and hired him in 1967 to join her band. Brown played for Reeves and the Vandellas for a couple of years (she gives him a shout out on her unreleased ''Live at the Copa'' album) before Motown hired him away as a studio musician and to travel with other Motown acts.

Music career

His time with Martha Reeves led to a contract with

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...

. After that contract, Brown recorded with some of the biggest names in the Motown industry, including

Martha and the Vandellas Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves & The Vandellas) were an American vocal girl group formed in Detroit in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s with Motown. An act founded by friends Annette Beard, Rosalind ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

and

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

. Back in the 1970s and 80's session drummers such as Mel were not recognized because it was not policy to print the names of session music. The purpose of a session musician was to record in the studio or play with the band on stage, but they weren't actually part of the band. In 1973, Brown moved back to Portland Oregon and made it his permanent home. Five years later, Brown created a trio band with piano player George Mitchell and bass player Phil Baker. For two years, 1978–1980, Brown toured with

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

and the trio band he created. Brown owned and operated The Mel Brown Drum Shop until 1984 and then opened a

bookkeeping Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions, and is part of the process of accounting in business and other organizations. It involves preparing source documents for all transactions, operations, and other events of a business. Tr ...

service which he called Metropolitan Accounting and Tax. He maintained his music career playing gigs and performing different shows throughout the Portland Jazz District. Brown created the Sextet, performing every week at The Hobbit in southeast Portland. Brown had the opportunity to record and play with

Leroy Vinnegar Leroy Vinnegar (July 13, 1928 – August 3, 1999) was an American jazz bassist. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, the self-taught Vinnegar established his reputation in Los Angeles, California, during the 1950s and 1960s. His trademar ...

and the two of them started a Hammond B-3 organ quintet. In the 1990s, Mel was added to the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

for the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival and created the Mel Brown Jazz summer camp workshop located at

Western Oregon University Western Oregon University (WOU) is a public university in Monmouth, Oregon. It was originally established in 1856 by Disciples of Christ pioneers as Monmouth University. Subsequent names included Oregon State Normal School, Oregon College of E ...

. In 1999 Brown was inducted into the Jazz Society of Oregon Hall of fame. Throughout his career he also played and performed with the

Oregon Symphony The Oregon Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded as the 'Portland Symphony Society' in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States. I ...

. Brown continues to live in Portland and still runs his accounting company by day. He had longstanding gigs at Portland's Jimmy Mak's, playing weekly with his Septet, Quartet, and B3 Organ Group until the club closed in 2016. He continues to play regularly with his B3 Organ Group at the Jack London Revue and with his trio at Salty's on the Columbia in Portland, Oregon.

Selected discography

* 1988: Andrei Kitaev, Tim Gilson, Mel Brown - ''Yesterdays'' (Jazz Marc 1230) P release only* 1989: Mel Brown Sextet - ''Plays Music By Gordon Lee: Gordon Bleu'' (Gleeful GL-001) * 1994: Jessica Williams and

with Mel Brown - ''Encounters'' (Jazz Focus JFCD-005) * 1996: Leroy Vinnegar with Jessica Williams and Mel Brown - ''The Boss of the Walking Bass: A Tribute to Leroy Vinnegar'' ive(Jazz Focus JFCD-036

el. 2000 EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

* 1999: Mel Brown 3 OrganQuintet - ''Live at Jimmy Mak's'' (Karmenpolicy 2102) * 2000: Mel Brown extet- ''Mister Groove'' (Karmenpolicy 21012) * 2001: Patrick Lamb (featuring Louis Pain, Jason Carter and Mel Brown) - ''Sunshine Alley'' (Patrick Lamb Productions PLP-7453) * 2003: Mel Brown B3 Organ Quartet - ''Live at the Britt Festival'' (Shoug Records SR-105) * 2005: Mel Brown Quartet - ''Girl Talk'' (Saphu SCD-0021) * 2006: Mel Brown Quartet - ''Live: An Evening with the MBQ'' (Saphu SCD-0023) * 2006: Mel Brown Sextet - ''Plays the Music of Gordon Lee: Gordon Bleu (20th Anniversary Edition)'' (Diatic Records 004) eissue of Gleeful material* 2006: Renato Caranto (featuring Gordon Lee, Andre St. James and Mel Brown) - ''Nice To Be Home'' (Diatic Records 006) * 2006: Mel Brown B3 Organ Group - ''Smokin' at Jimmy's'' (Shoug Records SR-106) * 2007: Jof Lee, Tim Gilson, Mel Brown - ''Live at Salty's'' (Saphu SCD-0028) * 2014: Gordon Lee with the Mel Brown Septet - ''Tuesday Night'' (OA2/

Origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * Origin (comics), ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * The Origin (Buffy comic), ''The Origin'' (Bu ...

22111) * 2014: Mel Brown B3 Organ Group - ''Ticket To Ride: 16th Anniversary Show, Vol. 1'' (Shoug Records SR-107) * 2014: Mel Brown B3 Organ Group - ''More Today Than Yesterday: 16th Anniversary Show, Vol. 2'' (Shoug Records SR-108) * 2019: King Louie Organ Trio (featuring Renato Caranto, Edwin Coleman III and Mel Brown + guests: Bruce Conte and

Dan Faehnle Dan Faehnle is an American guitarist from Ohio who is a member of the band Pink Martini. He has worked with Joey DeFrancesco, Dave Frishberg, Terry Gibbs, Eddie Harris, Rebecca Kilgore, Diana Krall, Zoot Sims, Clark Terry, and Leroy Vinnegar. Dis ...

) - ''It's About Time'' (Shoug Records SR-110) With Billy Larkin & The Delegates * 1964: ''Billy Larkin & The Delegates'' (Aura/

/Liberty AR-3002/ST-3002) * 1965: ''Blue Lights'' (Aura/World Pacific/Liberty AR-83003/ARS-23003) * 1968: ''The Best of Billy Larkin & The Delegates'' (World Pacific/Liberty WPS-21883)

References

External links

What Do You Know About…Mel Brown?
at ''

Modern Drummer ''Modern Drummer'' is a monthly publication targeting the interests of drummers and percussionists. The magazine features interviews, equipment reviews, and columns offering advice on technique, as well as information for the general public. ''Mo ...

''
Always Learning: Lessons from the Jazz Ensemble
at '' The PEAK Fleet''
Mel Brown Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2021) {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Mel American jazz drummers Musicians from Portland, Oregon 1944 births Living people 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Portland State University alumni 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians African Americans in Oregon African-American history of Oregon Jazz musicians from Oregon