Gerry Brown (drummer)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Gerry Brown (born November 9, 1951) is an American jazz drummer from Philadelphia. He started playing drums at age five and played with soul groups. In high school he played with bassist John Lee, and they studied music together in 1970. Brown moved to New York in 1971 to play for Lionel Hampton, then in 1972 he moved to the Netherlands with Lee to join Chris Hinze’s rock‑jazz group. With Lee as co‑leader, he made several albums in the 1970s and also worked with Jasper van ’t Hof, Toto Blanke, Charlie Mariano, Eef Albers and Gary Bartz. They joined Larry Coryell’s The Eleventh House for two years, and Brown also played with Stanley Clarke and Chick Corea. In 1979 he performed with Didier Lockwood at the Montreux Jazz Festival. He lived in Berlin for a time in 1982, working with George Gruntz, Joachim Kühn, Chris Beckers, Herb Geller, Anne Haigis and Kraan before returning to the United States. In 1986 he replaced Billy Cobham in Consortium. From 1992 to 2004 he played with Stevie Wonder, and since 2000 he has been the drummer for Diana Ross. Brown has also appeared as a sideman on many recordings with artists such as George Benson, Michał Urbaniak, Urszula Dudziak, Marcus Miller, Lionel Richie, Roberta Flack, Joe Sample, Tom Harrell, Phil Collins and more. He and bassist Nathan Watts released an instructional video, R&B Drumming - Featuring Gerry Brown and his Motown Sound.