Brown, Tom (Red)
Brown, Tom (Red)
Brown, Tom (Red), early jazz trombonist; brother of Steve Brown; b. New Orleans, June 3, 1888; d. March 25, 1958. His early nickname was “Red.” He began on violin at nine, later played trombone in Papa Jack Laine’s Reliance Bands, and led his own band from c. 1910. He took his own Brown’s Ragtime Band to open at Lamb’s Cafe, Chicago, on May 15, 1915. A newspaper ad for the band is the first known printed use of the word jazz in connection with music, but it was spelled “Jad”! During the following year, he led novelty band The Five Rubes, and played dates at N.Y.’s Century Theatre early in 1916. He returned to Chicago, and led his own band at Camel Gardens and on variety tours. During this period, he made many freelance recordings in Chicago and N.Y. He worked in Chicago for Ray Miller c. 1922-3, then returned to New Orleans and played for various local bandleaders. He worked regularly on string bass during the 1930s including a long spell in Val Barbara’s Orch. He also worked as a radio repair person and owned his own radio and music shop. Through the 1940s and 1950s, he continued to gig on trombone and string bass in New Orleans and Eunice, La., in a Dixielandrevival style.
Discography
Tom Brown’s Band from Dixie Land (1954); Tom Brown and His New Orleans Jazz (1958).
—John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter