Department Spotlight: Music

The John Brown Jazz Orchestra has received a 2009 grant from cARTwheels: Arts on the Move, a touring and outreach program sponsored by the North Carolina Arts Council. cARTwheels provides third, fourth, and fifth graders in North Carolina with free professionally-staged music, theater, dance and opera performances in their communities. The John Brown Jazz Orchestra will perform for students in Durham, Lumberton, Hamlet, Kinston, and Statesville from March 23 to 27.

John Brown is Associate Professor of the Practice of Music and Director of the Jazz Program at Duke University. He is also an adjunct faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University. A double bassist, he has performed with the North Carolina Symphony since 1992 and has traveled in the U.S. and abroad with artists like Elvin Jones and Wynton, Ellis, and Delfeayo Marsalis. Brown received a Grammy® nomination for performing and co-writing on Nnenna Freelon's album, Shaking Free, and has performed in a variety of settings, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Blue Note, Blues Alley, and countless others. The John Brown Jazz Orchestra's latest recording, Terms of Art, reached the top ten on the national JazzWeek chart.

Other recipients of 2009 cARTwheels grants are the African American Dance Ensemble, Asheville Lyric Company, Carolina Ballet, Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, Keowee Chamber Music with Cuarteto La Catrina, North Carolina Black Repertory Company, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Opera Carolina, and Triad Stage.