Tom Browne

Church Street Jazz Series

Jazz Trumpeter Tom Browne was born October 30, 1954 in Queens, NY. He first rose to prominence through his early work with Sonny Fortune. While becoming a regular on the New York jazz scene, he had the fortune of learning first hand from masters like Jimmy Nottingham, Richard Williams, Woody Shaw and Freddie Hubbard.  Browne soon played his first pro level performances as sideman to jazz greats Weldon Irvine and Fortune where he earned domestic and international recognition. It was no surprise that Downbeat Magazine singled out his "warm trumpet" during the review of Fortunes' 1976 "Infinity Is" album.

In 1978, Browne led a traditional jazz quintet at the Breezin' Lounge, an uptown New York nightclub indirectly affiliated with George Benson.  Through contacts made by Jimmy Boyd (Bensons' former and Browne’s subsequent manager) and guitar legend Earl Klugh, he was offered several solo recording contracts and ultimately signed with Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen on the newly formed GRP Record label. There he recorded six solo projects including several hits. His debut release "Browne Sugar" (1979) dominated the jazz charts for many weeks while "Love Approach" (1980) and "Magic" (1981) each earned gold album status and spawned hits like "Funkin' For Jamaica," "Thighs High" and "Secret Fantasy." Later in 1982 Browne released a minor hit called, "Fungi Mama (bebopafunkadiscolypso)", which was also recorded on the Arista record label. It reached number 58 in the UK chart.

While still performing, Browne’s primary career path shifted towards another love; commercial aviation. He flew for many years as a charter and airline captain, most recently with a FedEx Feeder Company on ATR72 and Fokker F-27 aircraft.

Tom Browne re-emerged with a solid recording career in 1994, recording for the Hip-Bop Record Label. There he released his first in a series of recordings for Hip Bop entitled "Mo' Jamaica Funk." Subsequent releases for the label include "Another Shade of Browne" which features him in a "straight-ahead jazz" setting with Ron Carter, Idris Muhammad and Billy Childs (1996) and "R & Browne" (1999) which received outstanding Jazziz Magazine reviews.

In 2003, Hip Bop released "The Tom Browne Collection". On August 31, 2010, Pony Canyon Records released his excitement filled CD entitled "S' Up" to the Japanese market featuring Fred Wesley and Groove Collective. His new recording called "Legacy" is now making waves worldwide, and captures not only Tom's fiery and funky trumpet and horn section work, but also the sizzling vocals of talented and beautiful Netherlands based Filipino singer Ms. Joyce San Mateo.

At Tom Browne’s concert on October 14th at Attucks Theatre, be prepared to take a journey into the jazzy musical textures of rhythmic sound and then grip your hips and move!