Earle Brown

American composer (1926–2002) Earle Brown (December 26, 1926 – July 2, 2002) was an American music composer, producer, and educator who, as a composer, was a close associate of John Cage, and established his own formal and notational systems. As such, he created "open form,"[full citation needed] a style of musical construction that influenced composers like John Zorn and the downtown New York scene of the 1980s, as well as later generations of composers.[not verified in body] Among Brown's most famous works[according to whom?] are December 1952, an entirely graphic score, and the open form pieces Available Forms I & II, Centering, Cross Sections and Color Fields.[not verified in body] He was awarded a Foundation for Contemporary Arts John Cage Award in 1998. Early life and education Earle Appleton Brown was born on December 26, 1926 in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, and first devoted himself to playing jazz. He initially considered an engineering career and enrolled in engineering and mathematics at Northeastern University (1944–45). He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1945. However, the war ended while he was still in basic training, and he was assigned to the base band at Rand