welcome to The Crowd

Al Brown

Al Live-Music-Is-Best Brown, was born 9/28/54 and is married to Jeannie, The Crowd’s Queen of the Keyboards.

When I listen to music, I hear the bass and the rhythm. Some  people sing along with a tune, I hum the bass line.

It’s all about influences. My Great Aunt Bertha played the violin; that’s why I’m a musician.
Well, okay…there are other reasons, too. Mom loved to sing, Dad played a little piano, they listened to music a lot (Lawrence Welk, Sing-Along-With-Mitch, Nat King Cole); brother Dee, a teen in the 50’s, had all the 45’s; brother Chris had a rock band (The National Pastime-remember them?) in Dad’s basement; sister Barb saw The Beatles. I went through the school band programs playing the Baritone, (“the what?” I’m always asked) picked up the upright bass (and later the electric) at LP high school to play in their “Stage Band” while studying the bass with Hugh Richardson in Mendota. Moving to bass from low brass was easy, technically, as I could already read the music, and the rest came naturally. Playing bass just felt good. Probably a little “cooler” than the Baritone, too.

Music, of course, is my main influence. I’ve been inspired by pretty much everything I’ve ever heard, but classical and jazz remain my favorites. The upright bass (string bass, double bass, stand-up bass, “dog house” bass; choose one) is my instrument of choice. Electric bass has certainly earned its place, but for me, it’s a facsimile; I’d rather be playing my upright (It’s a mid 50’s Kay Swingmaster, big, fat and blonde), which I do frequently with my wife Jeannie (Not big, fat, and blonde) in our piano/bass jazz duo. No room for the fat old Swingmaster on stage with The Crowd (6 of us…we are a crowd) so I play my ’72 Fender Precision with the slightly crooked neck and belt buckle scratches on the back and the custom thumb rest made out of a piece of plastic I found on the floor. Have recently added a Fender Precision 5 string with (oh joy!) a straight neck and a fifth string that doubles as a thumb rest! Belt buckle scratches are a given. Both through a Fender Bassman amp. Like those Fenders!
Bands from my checkered...no…polka dotted past include Freedom, Cock Robin, John Brown Duo, and with Jeannie, Contraband, Ozzie (named for Ozzie Nelson!), Knucklehead and Last Call (w/ Jeannie’s brother Brian Benkse). All fun.

Along with our dubious duties in The Crowd, Jeannie and I have our duo “Mr. & Mrs. Brown, Great Jazz Standards for Private Parties and Public Affairs”; the occasional jam or gig with our friends in Exit 56 from Princeton; Jeannie is a busy organist, accompanist, piano teacher; I play once a year with a Mendota alumni big band; an occasional gig with Princeton jazz quartet “Flyin’ Home”; and every Tuesday night with Harry Noel’s jazz octet in Peru. Harry and his guitarist Aldo are in their 80’s and really keep me on my toes. Those cats have been around.

When I’m not making music I spend my days as a piano tuner/technician. Call me. Ask me about pianos. I dare ya!
Underneath it all I have my wife/best friend/compadre Jeannie and I’m Dad to my three grown kids. That’s the best gig of all!