Retiring Music Professor Steve Brown to Be Honored with Free Alumni Jazz Concert

04/21/08

To honor the retirement of Steve Brown -- who has taught jazz at the Ithaca College School of Music since 1968 -- a stellar lineup of jazz musicians who studied under Brown will return to their alma mater on Saturday, April 26, for a concert honoring their former teacher. Beginning at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music, "The Alumni Big Band in Honor of Professor Steve Brown" will be led by Steve Brown in collaboration with his brother Ray.

Free and open to the public, the event is part of the Enduring Masters series.

A jam session open to all students and alumni will take place after the concert, from 10:30 p.m. to 1 :00a.m., at the Carriage House Cafe, 305 East Stewart Avenue.

All former students in Brown's jazz workshop, the performers will include professional Broadway and session performers; music educators; freelancers; professors of jazz studies from Cornell, Georgia State, Binghamton, and Berkeley; a member of the U.S. Air Force Band; an administrator at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester; a businessman; and Brown's son Miles. The alumni musicians will perform a program that will include several tunes composed or arranged by the Brown brothers as well as works by George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Kenny Wheeler, Wes Montgomery, and Tony Bennett.

Steve Brown first came to Ithaca College as a classical percussion student, but during his freshman year became the fledgling jazz group's guitarist. When the previous student director graduated, Brown took over, directing the band for most of his remaining undergraduate years. After graduating in 1964, he taught public school music on Long Island for three years before returning to the School of Music in 1967 to continue his studies.

Proposing his own program of study, Brown was the School of Music's first-ever recipient of a master's degree in classical guitar. During his master's degree study, Brown returned to playing in the jazz lab, and performing with his brother Ray, who was directing at the time. As soon as he completed his degree, he joined the faculty, which led to him directing the big band and developing and teaching jazz courses, which he's been doing ever since.

As jazz studies became an integral part of the School of Music, the bachelor of music degree in jazz studies was created in 1988. Over the years, jazz bands and classes have included students majoring in performance, education, and jazz studies.

As the principal jazz studies professor, Brown's teaching has been varied. He has directed the jazz workshop and electric guitar ensemble, taught jazz guitar and electric bass students, and taught classes in jazz piano, jazz history, improvisation, and arranging.

The Enduring Masters concert series is supported by the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. The Enduring Masters series is a collaboration between the School of Music, the Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies, the Gerontology Institute, and the Linden Center for Creativity and Aging.

For more information, visit www.ithaca.edu/enduringmasters or contact Tom Kline at 607-274-7007 or [mailto:tkline@ithaca.edu].

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