Victor Provost & Alex Brown

featuring ETIENNE CHARLES (Trumpet)

Victor Provost.

Born and raised on the island of St. John, Virgin Islands, Victor Provost is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading voices on the unique, and often misunderstood, steelpan. Through appearances at concert halls, clubs, and stages throughout the world, he has developed a reputation as a “dazzling” soloist, crafting an impressive improvisational voice and style. With a strong foundation in Bebop, a contemporary sensibility, and deep roots in Caribbean music, he seamlessly melds and mixes genres. The Washington D.C. City Paper’s “Jazz Percussionist of the Year” six years in a row, his most recent recording, Bright Eyes, debuted at #5 on the iTunes Top 40 Jazz Charts and was met with praise from The Washington Post, Downbeat Magazine, and Jazz Times.

Victor has performed and recorded with Jazz luminaries such as Wynton Marsalis, Paquito D'Rivera, Hugh Masekela, Monty Alexander, Joe Locke, Nicholas Payton, Terell Stafford, Dave Samuels, Steve Nelson, Ron Blake, and Wycliffe Gordon, among others.

Victor is an Adjunct Professor of Music at George Mason University and conducts residencies and master classes throughout the United States and the Caribbean at schools such as Berklee College of Music in Boston, University of Akron, Miami University, NYU, TTU, and Northern Illinois University. He is also an Arts Ambassador to his hometown of the U.S. Virgin Islands, which honored him with a Special Congressional Recognition in 2014, and to which returns frequently to perform and teach as part of Dion Parson’s community-based arts initiative, the United Jazz Foundation.

Learn more about Victor at https://www.victorprovost.com/

Alex Brown.

Composer and pianist Alex Brown is at the forefront of a new generation of artists.  In 2023, he was commissioned by Bobby Broom and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra to create arrangements of Henry Mancini’s Dreamsville and Leonard Bernstein’s Somewhere for their new album.  Brown also wrote the string quartet arrangements for Kendrick Scott’s composition Unearthed which were performed by the Harlem Quartet.  Since 2022, he has collaborated with SF-based rapper Andre Nickatina in a project reimagining Nickatina’s music for orchestra.  Brown’s music has been featured in various films, and he has produced and composed music for commercial campaigns for Orbitz, Zimmermann, Omega, and Vogue.  As a pianist, the New York Times says he plays “with a crystalline touch and a worldly approach.”  In 2021, he released his second album as a leader, The Dark Fire Sessions.  Brown has been a member of Paquito D’Rivera’s ensemble since 2007, performing on and contributing arrangements to their Latin GRAMMY award-winning album Jazz Meets the Classics.  In 2021, he received a GRAMMY nomination as a part of Dafnis Prieto’s album Transparency.  In 2019, he was the pianist on trumpeter Brian Lynch’s GRAMMY award-winning album The Omni-American Book Club.  Brown also collaborates frequently with artists that include Warren Wolf, Sean Jones, Christian McBride, Imani Winds, Harlem Quartet, Miho Hazama, Cho-Liang Lin, David Shifrin, and has performed with Chris Thile on the American variety show Live From Here (formally known as Prairie Home Companion).  In 2016, he performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue as a soloist with the Orquesta Symphonica de Mineria led by conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto in Mexico City.  Brown has performed in many of the world’s greatest venues and festivals including the Kennedy Center, Newport Jazz Festival, and the Hollywood Bowl.  Brown earned his Bachelor of Music degree in jazz performance at the New England Conservatory and his Master of Music degree in studio jazz composition at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.  From 2018-2019, Brown served as a Visiting Artist in Jazz Studies at the Peabody Institute, part of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  In the fall of 2022, he served as a visiting professor at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.  Brown is a YAMAHA artist.

Learn more about Alex at http://www.alexbrownmusic.com/

ETIENNE CHARLES (Trumpet)

Etienne Charles is the Assistant Professor of Jazz Trumpet at Michigan State University. Hailed by TheNew York Times as "an auteur" (Ben Ratliff), by Jazz Times as "A daring improviser who delivers with heart wrenching lyricism" (Bill Milkowski).  According to Downbeat Magazine "Charles delivers his ebullient improvisations with the elegance of a world-class ballet dancer." (John Murph).  He has received critical acclaim for his exciting performances, thrilling compositions and knack for connecting with audiences worldwide.  In June 2012, Etienne was written into the US Congressional Record for his musical contributions to Trinidad & Tobago and the World.   Perhaps more than any other musician of his generation or Eastern Caribbean origin, Etienne brings a careful study of myriad rhythms from the French, Spanish, English and Dutch speaking Caribbean to the table.  Crucially, as a soloist, he fully understands the New Orleans trumpet tradition; which is readily discernible in his trademark instrumental swagger, and what famed Crescent City Pianist, Jelly Roll Morton so succinctly captured in the now immortal phrase, 'The Spanish Tinge'.  He has performed and or recorded with Monty Alexander, Roberta Flack, Frank Foster, Ralph MacDonald, Johnny Mandel, Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, Maria Schneider, Count Basie Orchestra, Eric Reed, Lord Blakie, David Rudder and many others.  He holds a Master's degree from the Juilliard School and a Bachelor's degree from Florida State University.

 

for more information please visit etiennecharles.com