Brandon Meeks
Bassist, actor, and creator of Indianapolis jazz concert series.
Brandon Meeks is an American Jazz bassist based in Indianapolis, Indiana. He appeared in the 2015 film "Miles Ahead" in the role of Ron Carter and is the first Hoosier recipient of Creative Capital's State of the Art Prize. Meeks also established the "3rd Sunday Jazz Concert" in 2022 as well as the "Unsung Giants" performance project in 2026.
Quick Facts
- Education
- Columbia College Chicago
Facts from the source article.
Early life and education
Meeks grew up in Gary, Indiana. At age nine he began guitar lessons after his mother mistakenly bought a guitar instead of a bass; he started practicing bass at thirteen. While attending Wirt-Emerson School for Visual and Performing Arts for visual arts, a friend asked him to fill an opening for bass in the school's jazz band. Meeks, then playing classical guitar and wanting to pick up bass, accepted.
Career
In 2015 Meeks played bassist Ron Carter in the Miles Davis biographical film "Miles Ahead". He obtained the role after submitting a headshot and a short paragraph to a talent agency on a whim, acting alongside Don Cheadle. In 2022, with a $10,000 Art in Public Spaces grant from the Indy Arts Council and support from the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation, Meeks created the free outdoor "3rd Sunday Jazz Concert" series to make live jazz more accessible to Black youth in Indianapolis. He won Creative Capital's State of the Art Prize in 2025, receiving an unrestricted $10,000 grant that he used to develop "Unsung Giants", a concert series honoring Indiana's jazz history and living legends. In summer 2026, "Unsung Giant" also served as the theme for the "3rd Sunday Jazz Concert", which began on June 21, 2026, at the Fort Ben Cultural Campus Amphitheater in Lawrence.
More in African-American Jazz Musicians
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced