Red Brown

A member of the Dukes of Dixieland, a top combo in the New Orleans jazz genre, the trombonist and bassist Tom Brown would sometimes hide out under the stagename of Red Brown. There are as many explanation for this as chunks of sausage floating in a pot of red beans and rice; in other words, not an overwhelming number, but enough to satisfy curious folk with an appetite for grisly chunks of trivia. Squinting at old record jackets, such a person might wonder if the Red Brown in the rhythm section of the Dukes of Dixieland might be the same one who played banjo for the Tune Wranglers. The musical styles have connecting points, the bands' base of operations were in neighboring states, and Brown himself--the New Orleans one named Tom, that is--played enough instruments to make it seem plausible, starting on violin and working his way down the tonal totem. The banjoist named Brown is a different person, however--a Texan, real name Joe Barnes. Tom Brown comes from an earlier era as well. While the Tune Wranglers swung into action in the '30s, back in 1915 Tom Brown was already at the forefront of New Orleans players and bandleaders who had relocated to Chicago. He began doubling as a bassist in the '30s, and some liner note evidence suggests he was more likely to use the Red Brown credit on this instrument then when blowing trombone. Perhaps he was taking a breather from the association with more than a dozen other musicians named Tom Brown, several of them in jazz. Or, as suggested in the fanatic right wing commentary of Biff Badamino, Brown felt there was something seditious about the role of the string bass in this style of music; as a conservative New Orleans oldtimer, he would have preferred tuba, especially considering the contrabass' deep connection with eastern...