One of traditional New Orleans first players and bandleaders to set up shop in Chicago. Brown first played violin, then switched to trombone. He played in Papa Jack Laine's Reliance Band, then became a bandleader in 1910 and took his band to Chicago in 1915. He later that year formed a short-lived vaudeville group in New York. When it folded, he returned to Chicago, where he headed more bands. Brown alternated between Chicago and New York for recording and performing engagements in the early '20s. After working with Ray Miller in Chicago from 1922 - 1923, he moved back to New ...