John Brown Big Band

In celebration of Craven Community College’s 60th Anniversary, the Lifetime Learning Center is pleased to welcome John Brown Big Band to help us celebrate with a presentation titled, The Roots of Jazz. John Brown Big Band is a full 17-piece jazz orchestra made up of the top jazz musicians from North Carolina and beyond. The group performs a wide range of material covering all eras of jazz repertoire including the music and arrangements of legends like Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Thad Jones, Woody Herman, and more! The band also delights in highlighting compositions of Carolina natives like John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and Nina Simone. Bassist, composer, educator, actor, and Jazz ambassador John Brown leads the band. A native of Fayetteville, NC, John’s extensive experience includes performances at notable venues like Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Blue Note, Blues Alley, and the Hollywood Bowl as well as major jazz festivals like the Playboy Jazz Festival, the JVC Jazz Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Free Jazz Festival (Brazil) and Jazz e Vienne (France). He currently serves as Vice Provost for the Arts, Director of the Jazz Program and Professor of the Practice of Music at Duke University, and has served on the faculties of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Central University and Guilford College (NC).