Sandy Brown (musician)

Sandy Brown ( born February 25, 1929 in Izatnagar, India, † March 15, 1975 in Edinburgh ) was a British jazz clarinetist, composer, bandleader and singer as well as writer, architect and engineer.

Life and work

Sandy Brown was born in India as the son of Scottish parents and grew up in Edinburgh. His father was a railway engineer. As a clarinetist Brown was self-taught; He attended the Royal High School ( Edinburgh). After military service in the National Service, he studied architecture at Edinburgh College of Art, where he founded his first band in 1949 with his school friend Al Fairweather, which also belonged to Stan Greig.

In 1953, Brown and Fairweather moved with her band to the south and eventually joined in the newly built Royal Festival Hall in London; Brown then went back to Edinburgh to complete his studies, but Fairweather remained in London. After graduating Brown again came to London and worked as a sound engineer at the BBC and revived his band. He also worked at this time with musicians such as pianist Sammy Price. 1954 emerged the Sandy Brown / Al Fairweather All Stars; they were in the late 1950s and early 1960s to one of the successful groups of the mainstream jazz of the British scene. In it, among other things, played Dick Heckstall -Smith, John McLaughlin, Kenny Wheeler, Terry Cox and trombonist Tony Milliner, tenor, Tony Coe and pianist Brian Lemon. The band released albums such as McJazz, Dr McJazz or The Incredible McJazz.

Finally, Brown decided to focus more on his second career as an architect of recording studios, but returned again and again for club and festival performances to jazz scene back. In 1971, he took with Brian Lemon Trio on the last album. Illness ended his career in the 1970s.

Brown played in his musical career also with Henry Red Allen, Diz Disley, Humphrey Lyttelton, Earle Warren, Eddie Durham and Pee Wee Russell. His writings appeared under the title The McJazz Manuscripts by Faber & Faber.

Disco Graphical Notes

  • McJazz ( Dormouse, 1957)
  • McJazz and Friends ( Lake, 1956-58 ) with Dick Heckstall -Smith
  • McJazz Lives On (EMI, 1957-63 )
  • Dr McJazz (Columbia, 1961)
  • Work Song ( Lake, 1962-68 ) with Kenny Wheeler, George Chisholm, Tony Coe, Brian Lemon, John McLaughlin
  • In the Evening (Hep Records, 1971)

Links / sources

  • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  • Homepage of Sandy's engineering firm
  • Site for dedicated fans Sandy Brown
Dick Heckstall-Smith John McLaughlin (musician) George Chisholm (musician) Ian Carr Digby Fairweather Brian Priestley Richard Cook (journalist)
705835
de