Jaimeo Brown

Drummer and bandleader Jaimeo Brown is a forward-thinking artist with a genre-crossing aesthetic that combines jazz, blues, hip-hop, African-American spirituals, and East Indian traditions. The son of jazz musician parents, Brown grew up listening to a wide array of styles from jazz to hip-hop. However, it wasn't until his junior year of high school that he started playing and studying drums. Brown excelled quickly, eventually enrolling in the jazz program at William Paterson University, where, for his senior thesis, he investigated the influence of the Black church on jazz. Also during his time at William Paterson, Brown studied the tabla and began drawing parallels between African-American spirituals and East Indian music. After graduating in 2001, he found work with a variety of artists, including stints with Bobby Hutcherson, Greg Tardy, Kenny Garrett, Wynton Marsalis, Q-Tip, and the Mingus Big Band. In 2007, Brown enrolled in postgraduate study at Rutgers University, where he earned his master's degree. Since then, he has toured the Middle East as a jazz ambassador and continued his recording career, appearing on such albums as Geri Allen's A Child Is Born (2011), Craig Brann's Advent(ure) (2013), and Joe Locke's Lay Down My Heart: Blues & Ballads, Vol. 1 (2013). In 2013, Brown made his debut as a leader with the expansive Transcendence on Motéma Music. In 2016, he returned with his second album, Work Songs, released under the band name Jaimeo Brown Transcendence and featuring a similarly ambitious if more pared-down trio sound featuring guitarist/producer Chris Sholar.
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