Keith Brown in Concert, Feb. 3

Lesli Bales-SherrodOur Town Arts, West Knox County

Pianist, composer, arranger and educator Keith Brown returns to Knoxville next week to kick off Pellissippi State Community College’s spring 2022 concert series.

Brown will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, in the Clayton Performing Arts Center on the college’s Hardin Valley Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road. The concert is free and open to the public. No tickets are required, but masks are encouraged when at least six feet of distance cannot be maintained.

Born in Memphis and raised in Knoxville, Brown is the son of world-renowned jazz pianist and composer Donald Brown and Dorothy Brown, who also is a pianist and plays various woodwind instruments. Brown began playing piano and bass at an early age and, by age 18, was playing piano and bass around Knoxville in a variety of jazz, R&B, funk and country bands.

Brown attended Pellissippi State and later earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music. Brown also served as an adjunct instructor of music at Pellissippi State before taking his talents to New York City, where he continues to make a name for himself as a pianist and composer on the contemporary jazz scene.

“I always try to write and perform in a way that is intellectual, but that has a strong sense of melody or groove that can touch those who are open enough to listen,” said Brown, noting he continues to draw inspiration from his roots in R&B, funk, classical, jazz and hip-hop and constantly explores new ways of integrating these influences.

Keith Brown in Concert is part of The Arts at Pellissippi State, which includes visual arts exhibits as well as theatre and music performances, all of which are open to the public. For a complete list of this semester’s events, visit www.pstcc.edu/arts.

Lesli Bales-Sherrod does marketing and writing for Pellissippi State Community College.

 

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