The Un-Official Tom Browne Bio Page

Presents the unofficial
TOM BROWNE

and Miscellaneous Stories Page...

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From the keyboard of Bob Baldwin:

Tom and I met in 1986 when I opened up for him at the legedary Bottom Line in NYC. He was groovin' on my arrangement of "What's Goin' On". He said, "Hey, man, those are some twisted chords you are playing on that arrangement. Here's my number". I had the opportunity to do one CD for him when he took a spiritual turn, doing one of the first ever Gospel-Jazz CD's long before it was fashionable.

Several years past when he delved into a couple of straight-ahead records for Hip-Bop, but never really fully intended to release himself of the funk that took him and millions others by surprise, ala, "Funkin' For Jamaica", one of the greatest funk instrumentals of all time.

When I told Tom that I wanted to redo his legendary composition, he thought I was crazy, but I did it anyway. To make it a memorable event, we added other funk-jazz legends Gerald Albright, Marion Meadows, vocalist Tonni Smith (The original vocalist) and Fred Vigdor of AWB fame. The event was memorable and can be captured on my latest cd, "Bobbaldwin.com".

Written by Bob Baldwin

Tom Browne

New Bob Baldwin CD, "Bobbaldwin.com", featuring Chuck Loeb, Gerald Albright,
Marion Meadows, Eric Essix and a special song co-composed by Will Downing. Click the CD for more details.

Tom Browne Quick Bio

Tom Browne was a familiar figure on the R&B charts during the 1979-89 period when he was recording pop-oriented material for GRP and Arista. Browne studied piano for a year when he was 11 and then switched to trumpet, attending New York City's High
School Of Music and Art. Originally interested in classical music, Browne discovered jazz while in college in the mid-'70s. He worked with Sonny Fortune, recorded with Lonnie Smith and then signed with GRP. Although influenced by Freddie Hubbard and occasionally recording a hard bop number, most of Browne's output during that era was clearly geared towards the marketplace. A commercial pilot, Browne largely dropped out of music by the late '80s but came back in 1994, recording for Hip Bop in several settings including the credible jazz date Another Shade of Browne which made one wonder "What took so long?"

~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide