Cleo Brown

{{short description|American blues and jazz vocalist and pianist (1909–1995)}}{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Cleo Brown | background = | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|12|8}} | birth_place = Meridian, Mississippi, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1995|4|15|1909|12|8}} | death_place = Denver, Colorado, U.S. | genre = {{hlist|Jazz|blues|boogie-woogie}} | occupation = Musician | instrument = {{hlist|Piano|Vocals}} | years_active = 1923–1980s | label = {{hlist|Decca|Capitol}} }}

'''Cleopatra Brown''' (December 8, 1909<ref name="bare">{{cite book| first1= Bob| last1= Eagle| first2= Eric S.| last2= LeBlanc| year= 2013| title= Blues - A Regional Experience| publisher= Praeger Publishers| location= Santa Barbara| pages=113 | isbn= 978-0313344237}}</ref> – April 15, 1995),<ref name="Dead">{{cite web|author=Doc Rock |url=http://www.thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1995.html |title=The Dead Rock Stars Club 1994 - 1995 |publisher=Thedeadrockstarsclub.com |date= |accessdate=2014-07-12}}</ref> known as '''Cleo Brown''', '''C. Patra Brown''' or '''Cleo Patra Brown''', was an American blues and jazz vocalist and pianist. She was the first woman instrumentalist to receive the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship.<ref name="NEA">{{cite web |title =NEA Jazz Masters: Cleo Brown |publisher =NEA |url =https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/cleo-brown |accessdate =2017-09-06 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20190410102806/https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/cleo-brown |archive-date =2019-04-10 |url-status =dead }}</ref>

==Life== While Brown's place of birth has been published as Meridian, Mississippi, Brown told W. Balliett in a 1986 interview published in ''The New Yorker'' that she was born in De Kalb, Mississippi, shortly before her father took a position as a pastor in Meridian.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=W. Balliett|title=Scoop|magazine=The New Yorker|issue=62|date=10 November 1986|page=132}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Grove |author=Barry Kernfeld|date=2003 |title=Brown, Cleo(patra) |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.J060800}}</ref> She played piano in the Baptist church as a child. In 1919, her family moved to Chicago, and she began learning piano from her brother who worked with "Pinetop" Smith, playing boogie-woogie for dances.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Jazz Women at the Keyboard|last=Unterbrink|first=Mary|publisher=McFarland|year=1983|isbn=0899500749|location=Jefferson, NC|pages=[https://archive.org/details/jazzwomenatkeybo00unte/page/n66 57]–60|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/jazzwomenatkeybo00unte}}</ref> From around 1923, she worked in vaudeville, as well as taking gigs in clubs.<ref name=":0" /> In 1935, she replaced Fats Waller as pianist on New York radio station WABC.<ref name="NEA"/><ref name="AM"/>

From the 1930s to the 1950s, she toured the United States regularly, recording for Decca Records (among other labels) along the way and recording many humorous, ironic titles such as "Breakin' in a New Pair of Shoes", "Mama Don't Want No Peas an' Rice an' Cocoanut Oil", "When Hollywood Goes Black and Tan", and "The Stuff Is Here and It's Mellow". Her stride piano playing was often compared to Fats Waller,<ref name="AM">{{cite web|title =Cleo Brown |last=Chadbourne |first=Eugene |publisher=AllMusic |url ={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p184661/biography|pure_url=yes}} | accessdate =2009-12-20}}</ref> and she is credited as an influence on Dave Brubeck, who played during the intermissions of her shows, and Marian McPartland. She played regularly at clubs in Chicago, toured widely, and recorded for both Decca and Capitol Records.<ref name="NEA"/>

Brown began to shy away from singing bawdy blues songs because of her deepening religious beliefs, and, in 1953, she was baptized, retired from music, and became a nurse in 1959. Jazz biographies frequently listed her as deceased due to her absence from music.<ref name=":0" /> The song "Sweet Cleo Brown" was recorded by Brubeck in tribute to her.<ref>Liner notes, "Dave Brubek Plays and Plays and Plays" Fantasy Records, Catalog #3259. Recorded 1957, remastered 1992. CD catalog # OJCCD-716.</ref>

From the mid-1970s until 1981, she performed under the name of C. Patra Brown on radio shows in Denver, Colorado. She replaced boogie-woogie music with slower, inspirational music.<ref name=":0" /> She returned to record again, and performed on National Public Radio.<ref name="AM" />

She gave birth to a son, Matthew, and had four grandchildren.<ref name=":0" /> She died on April 15, 1995, in Denver, Colorado.<ref name="Dead" />

==Discography== * ''Living in the Afterglow'' (Audiophile, 1989) * ''1935–1951'' (Chronological Classics)

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Cleo}} Category:1909 births Category:1995 deaths Category:American women jazz singers Category:American jazz singers Category:American blues singers Category:Singers from Mississippi Category:Singers from Chicago Category:Musicians from Meridian, Mississippi Category:Savoy Records artists Category:American jazz pianists Category:20th-century American women pianists Category:20th-century American pianists Category:20th-century American women singers Category:Jazz musicians from Illinois Category:Jazz musicians from Mississippi Category:20th-century American singers Category:Decca Records artists Category:NEA Jazz Masters