Ari Brown (he/him), A Chicago native, is an internationally renowned saxophonist, flutist, and pianist, as well as a prolific arranger, composer, and teacher. He began his professional career in the 1960s, performing soul, rock, blues, jazz, and R&B throughout the Midwest and along the East Coast with such artists as Gene Chandler, B.B. King, and Chuck Berry. Since 1979, Brown has performed almost exclusively in the jazz idiom, playing across the U.S. and throughout the world with his own working band and with others, including the AACM Experimental Orchestra, Kahil El’Zabar, Roscoe Mitchell, and Pharoah Sanders. He graduated from Chicago’s Vandercook School of Music and has been active as an educator, teaching at Chicago Public Schools, Columbia College Chicago, the Chicago Conservatory of Music, and other venues.
