The Don Brown Collective
Blue Note131 West 3rd Street, New York 10012
The Don Brown Collective comes to Blue Note for an evening led by drummer and bandleader Don Brown. The billing does not specify which edition of the Collective will appear, and that is part of the project’s design: its configurations can range from a trio or quartet to a quintet and larger arrangements. Expect a group-focused jazz set rather than a fixed-band presentation, with Brown steering a changing pool of Los Angeles players.
Brown is from South Central, Los Angeles, and brings together musicians drawn from that city’s jazz community. The Collective has performed at Dodger Stadium and the Gardena Jazz Festival, and played for a one-time LACMA screening of Tony Williams in Africa. Its musicians have worked with artists including Kelly Rowland, Stevie Wonder and Kamasi Washington; Brown himself has been a sideman for Serpentwithfeet, Keyon Harrold and Rowland, and serves as music director for Jenevieve. A local event description calls the group’s sound “technically brilliant” and “deeply felt.”
Blue Note Jazz Club is a dedicated listening room in the heart of Manhattan's jazz district, where the music is the focus and the space is designed to let the sound fill the room. The club features a stage with a small audience area, and the atmosphere is one of quiet concentration on the music. Shows typically begin at 8:00 PM with a second set at 10:30 PM, and the audience sits on chairs close to the stage. The club has a bar, and drinks are available. The experience is primarily about listening to live jazz, with occasional gospel and soul performances, and the audience often stays to talk and enjoy the music after the sets.