Lawrence Brown

Lawrence Brown stands among the leading trombonists of the swing period, yet his extensive years in Duke Ellington's Orchestra have kept many listeners from fully recognizing his stature. Early solos alongside Ellington provoked unease among certain followers of the band, who believed his technical command sat uneasily within an ensemble known for raw timbres and frequent deployment of mutes. Over the ensuing years, however, Brown established a distinct and lasting role within the orchestra's history.

He first studied piano, violin, and tuba before committing himself to the trombone. In Los Angeles he recorded with Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders between 1929 and 1930 and with Louis Armstrong, then fronting Les Hite's Orchestra, in 1930; two years later he entered Ellington's ranks, remaining until 1951, at which point he departed to join the newly formed small ensemble led by Johnny Hodges. Following 1955 Brown worked primarily as a studio musician in New York, only to return to Ellington from 1960 to 1970, a period during which he sometimes had to employ a plunger mute against his preference, before withdrawing from active performance. Though he headed just two sessions under his own name—a 1955-1956 date for Clef and the 1965 album Inspired Abandon for Impulse—his playing received prominent exposure on numerous Ellington recordings across the decades, with "The Sheik of Araby" from 1932 and "Rose of the Rio Grande" from 1938 standing among the most celebrated examples.