Pete Brown

James Ostend "Pete" Brown (November 9, 1906, Baltimore, Maryland - September 20, 1963, New York City, New York) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader.

Brown learned to play piano, trumpet, and saxophone while young. He played in New York with Bernie Robinson's orchestra in 1928, and played from 1928 to 1934 with Charlie Skeets. In 1937 he worked in the band of John Kirby; for several years in the 1930s he worked with Frankie Newton, who was also a member of Kirby's band. Brown and Newton recorded often. In addition to recording under his own name, Brown also recorded as a session musician with Willie "The Lion" Smith, Jimmy Noone, Buster Bailey, Leonard Feather, Joe Marsala, and Maxine Sullivan in the 1930s. He worked on 52nd Street in New York in the 1940s, both as a sideman (with Slim Gaillard, among others) and as a bandleader; he was in Allen Eager's 52nd Street All-Stars in 1946.

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