Ari Brown is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 tenor saxophonist and pianist.

Brown grew up in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and attended Wilson College

Wilson College

Wilson College can refer to:* Wilson College , Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, USA* Warren Wilson College, Asheville, North Carolina, USA* Lindsey Wilson College, Kentucky, USA* Wilson College, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA...

, where he met musicians such as Jack DeJohnette

Jack DeJohnette

Jack DeJohnette is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. He is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett and Sonny...

, Henry Threadgill

Henry Threadgill

Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. Threadgill came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres....

, Roscoe Mitchell

Roscoe Mitchell

Roscoe Mitchell is an African American composer, jazz instrumentalist and educator, mostly known for being "a technically superb—if idiosyncratic—saxophonist." He has been called "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz who has been "at the forefront of modern music" for the past...

, and Joseph Jarman

Joseph Jarman

Joseph Jarman , is a jazz musician, composer and Shinshu Buddhist priest. He is perhaps best known as one of the first members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and the Art Ensemble of Chicago.-Early life:Jarman grew up in Chicago, Illinois...

. He played piano in R&B and soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 outfits int the 1960s, then switched to saxophone in 1965. He joined the AACM

Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians

The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians is a non-profit organization, founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States, by pianist/composer Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran....

 in 1971, and also played with The Awakening in the early 1970s. In 1974 he lost several teeth in a car crash, and temporarily switched to piano again until he recovered. He played sax later in the 1970s with McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...

, Don Patterson

Don Patterson (organist)

Don Patterson was an American jazz organist.Patterson played piano from childhood and was heavily influenced by Erroll Garner in his youth. In 1956, he switched to organ after hearing Jimmy Smith play the instrument...

, and Sonny Stitt

Sonny Stitt

Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...

. In the 1980s, he worked with Lester Bowie

Lester Bowie

Lester Bowie was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the AACM, and cofounded the Art Ensemble of Chicago.-Biography:...

, Von Freeman

Von Freeman

Earle Lavon Freeman Sr. is an American hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist. He is the father of jazz saxophonist Chico Freeman.-Biography:...

, Bobby Watson

Bobby Watson

Bobby Watson is an American post-bop jazz alto saxophonist, composer, producer, and educator. Watson now has 26 recordings as a leader. He appears on nearly 100 other recordings as either co-leader or in a supporting role...

, and Anthony Braxton

Anthony Braxton

Anthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...

, and in 1989 he became a member of Kahil El'Zabar

Kahil El'Zabar

Kahil EL'Zabar is a jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer. He regularly records for Delmark Records. He joined the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in the early 1970s, and became its chairman in 1975...

's trio.

As leader

• 1995: Ultimate Frontier (Delmark Records
  Delmark Records
  Delmark Records is an independent American jazz and blues record label, based in Chicago since 1958. The label originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when owner Bob Koester released a recording of the Windy City Six, a traditional jazz group, under the "Delmar" imprint.-History:Born in 1932 in...
  
  )
• 1998: Venus (Delmark)
• 2007: Live at the Green Mill (Delmark)

As sideman

With The Awakening

• Mirage (1973)

With the Ritual Trio

• Alika Rising (1990)
• Renaissance at the Resistance (1994)
• Big Cliff (1995)
• Jitterbug Junction (1997)
• Africa N'da BLues (2000)
• Live at the River East Art Center (2005)
• Big M -- A Triute to Malachi Favors (2006)

With Orbert Davis

• Unfinished Memories (1994)
• Priority (2001)
• Blue Notes (2004)

With the Juba Collective

• Juba Collective (2002)

With the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic

• Collective Creativity (2008)