Sandy Brown (musician)

Biography

Sandy Brown was born in Izatnagar, India, to Scottish parents; his father worked there as a railway engineer. The family moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, in the early 1930s, and Brown later attended the Royal High School. He taught himself to play the clarinet starting at age twelve. After completing his national service, he studied architecture at the Edinburgh College of Art.

In 1949, while still a student, he formed a band with his former schoolmate Al Fairweather. The group gained national attention after a performance at Edinburgh's Usher Hall in February 1952. In 1953, the band traveled south and performed at the newly opened Royal Festival Hall in London. Brown then returned to Edinburgh to finish his studies, while Fairweather chose to stay in London.

After graduating, Brown took a job as an acoustic engineer with the BBC and moved to London, where he reestablished his band. In 1957, he and Fairweather worked together on the album McJazz, which critic Steve Race later named among his top dozen jazz recordings. In 1974, Brown went to New York and recorded with musicians from Count Basie's band. Over his career, he also played with George Chisholm, Kenny Wheeler, Henry "Red" Allen, Diz Disley, Humphrey Lyttelton, Earle Warren, Eddie Durham, Sammy Price, and Pee Wee Russell.

In his final months, he made a grueling business trip to Africa related to architecture. He died at his home in West Hampstead, London, at age 46, from a heart attack caused by malignant hypertension, while watching England beat Scotland at rugby and holding a glass of whisky. A collection of his writings, The McJazz Manuscripts, came out from Faber & Faber in 1979. He founded two firms: Sandy Brown Associates, focusing on architecture and acoustic engineering, and Sandy Brown MSU, a building services engineering practice.