John Brown Entertainment Group Jazz Band from Chapel Hill, NC

John Brown is a well established, GRAMMY and EMMY nominated bassist, and is the Director of the Jazz Program at Duke University. He has performed for President & Mrs. Barack Obama, and at major venues and festivals in the United States and abroad with artists like Wynton, Ellis and Delfeayo Marsalis, Nnenna Freelon, Elvin Jones, Diahann Carroll, Rosemary Clooney, Cedar Walton, and Nicholas Payton, and he performed regularly with the North Carolina Symphony from 1992-2000 when he shifted to become the Vice Provost for the Arts at Duke University. John earned his music degree from the School of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and his law degree from the School of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has performed for President & Mrs. Obama, and each of his recordings has reached the Top 40 on the national JazzWeek chart. The film "One Night in Kernersville" featuring John and his big band recording session has been screened at several festivals across the US, won awards, and aired on the Documentary Channel. He has taught at Duke since the Spring of 2001, and has also been a faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill, NC Central University, NC State University and Guilford College. His extensive performance experience includes feature films, television movies, theater, and recordings. John is as committed to education as he is to performing, and is very active taking music into schools to engage with students of all ages. In addition to teaching and performing, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Duke Cancer Patient Support Program, the Nina Simone Charitable Foundation, is Vice President of the North Carolina Presenter’s Consortium and is a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild. He has served on the jury awarding the Pulitzer Prize in Music four times, chairing that jury twice. In addition, he has served on numerous grant panels including the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council. John is a YAMAHA Certified String Instructor and is an Acoustic Image®, AMT®, Epifani®, and Warwick® Artist. Now, John leads his own group of highly gifted professional musicians (some of them are GRAMMY nominated) and they are available in MANY different configurations to suit your event. John's standards are high and his groups are made up of the best musicians in our region, and some are brought in to ensure that the absolute best and most professional musicians are here for you. The motto of our group configurations is TWO to TWENTY-TWO! Any one of the musicians is also available individually, but also in a myriad of group combinations that suit each individual client. We build the group according to what fits your vision for YOUR event. You might wish to hire a duo, trio or the quintet to complement your event while your guests converse, or larger configurations that are most desirable for that big band sound for wedding receptions, rehearsal dinners, and private and corporate engagements. Many clients do both to have music for conversation for part of the eve Ning, and then ramp things up for dancing later in the evening. Our 11 and 17 piece jazz bands are popular for that, along with our funk band. And YES - all of the groups DO travel! The group you choose will happily travel to perform for your event. When John's musicians get together, they form an exciting mix of talent and brotherhood encompassing the past, present and future of jazz. The combination of the diverse backgrounds of each band member, and the fire they bring to the music, makes this group the perfect setting for dynamic and creative ideas to flourish. They play with the right balance of high energy, intense swing, relaxed grooves and pensive and contemplative ballads - a balance they know well. The group performs a wide range of jazz styles including the timeless classics of the Great American Songbook, original versions and new arrangements of traditional jazz standards, modern jazz pieces and original compositions of each band member. Collectively, the band members share decades of experience performing for all types of events all over the world. The members of the group have performed at some of the world's best known venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Jazz a Vienne (France) and other festivals in Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Belgium and Japan. When at home, the group loves to perform, and likes to contribute to the festive nature of celebrations like parties, wedding receptions and mitzvahs. The fresh and innovative approach to performance coupled with a foundation in the tradition put the spirited ensembles of the John Brown Entertainment Group on the cutting edge of jazz - don't miss them!

• All Blues | Miles Davis
• A Night in Tunisia | Dizzy Gillespie
• It Had to Be You | Frank Sinatra
• Someday My Prince Will Come | as played by Miles Davis
• Take the | Duke Ellington
• A Sunday Drive | John Brown
• Quiet Time | John Brown
• Time Will Tell | Ray Codrington
• A Whole Lotta Love | Ray Codrington
• Old Song | Gabe Evens
• Fly Me to the Moon | as performed by Frank Sinatra
• Glendora | Russell Lacy
• Level | Russell Lacy
• Desmnd Street | Brian Miller
• Since I Love You | Brian Miller
• Hallelujah, I Love Her So | Ray Charles
• Our Love is Here to Stay | Frank Sinatra
• Moanin' | Bobby Timmons
• Someone to Watch Over Me | as performed by Ella Fitzgerald
• Summertime | as performed by Ella Fitzgerald
• The Preacher | Horace Silver
• In a Mellow Tone | Duke Ellington
• Georgia On My Mind | as performed by Ray Charles
• Mack the Knife | as performed by Ella Fitzgerald
• Do Nothin 'til You Hear From Me | Billy Strayhorn
• Autumn Leaves | as played by Miles Davis
• On the Sunny Side of the Street | as played by Joshua Redman
• Bye Bye Blackbird | as played by Miles Davis
• Meditation | Altonio Carlos Jobim
• St. Thomas | Sonny Rollins
• In A Sentimantal Mood | Duke Ellington
• They Can't Take That Away From Me | as performed by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald
• The Days of Wine and Roses | as played by Ray Brown
• My Little Suede Shoes | Charlie Parker
• The Night Has A Thousand Eyes | John Coltrane
• But Not For Me | as played by Ray Brown
• It's Only A Paper Moon | as performed by Natalie Cole
• L-O-V-E | as performed by Natalie Cole
• Shiny Stockings | Frank Foster
• As Time Goes By | Frank Sintra
• Satin Doll | Duke Ellington
• All of Me | as performed by Tony Bennett
• Lulu's Back in Town | as performed by Mel Torme
• . . . and MANY others! A complete list is available upon request. Thanks!