Ted Brown

Short Biography

Ted Brown, tenor saxophonist, was born in Rochester, New York, on December 1, 1927. He comes from a musical family. His father led a jazz band, playing banjo. His uncle and grandfather played saxophones in the band. Ted studied banjo with his father from the age of 6, switching to violin at age 10. His uncle taught him clarinet and tenor when he was 14.The family moved to Southern California in 1942 because Ted's father was stationed there during World War II as a pilot in the Navy Air Corp. Ted's father encouraged him to improvise on the melodies of standard tunes while he accompanied him on tenor guitar (four-string). He also taught him to transcribe a few jazz solos from records including Coleman Hawkins' Body and Soul.After graduating from High School in 1945, Ted worked with a big band touring U.S. Army bases. He was on the road in Texas when he was informed of his draft notice, and from February '46 until February '47 he was in the Army. He was stationed in v*rginia and played with the post band which included good players from Chicago and New York who "hipped" him to Lester Young and Charlie Parker. He also met Warne Marsh and Don Ferrara in the Army and played a few sessions with them. He spent many hours transcribing solos from the new records, including Bird's KoKo (based on Cherokee).see the full bio at