Anthony Brown is an American jazz percussionist, composer, bandleader, ethnomusicologist, and educator. He is known for leading, performing, and recording with the Grammy-nominated Asian American Orchestra since its founding in 1998. His compositions blend jazz instruments and improvisation with traditional Asian instruments and sensibilities, and include musical scores for documentary films, for theatrical and dance premieres, and for spoken word and poetry presentations. From 1992 to 1996, Brown served as a curator and founding director of the Smithsonian Institution's Jazz Oral History Program. Subsequently, he served as a Smithsonian Associate Scholar presenting concerts and lecture demonstrations for Smithsonian Cultural Festivals nationally, and as the principal interviewer of NEA Jazz Masters for the Jazz Oral History Program until 2012. Brown taught as a Visiting Professor of Music at the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently on the faculty of the California Jazz Conservatory. Early life Brown was born in the Presidio in San Francisco, California. His father, Willie Lee Brown, was an African American/Choctaw career soldier who met and married his mother, Sumi Ogita, in her native Tokyo, Japan after World War II. When Brown was nine years old, his father was assigned to Okinawa, Japan for four years, and the family spent summers at his mother’s family home in Tokyo. Brown’s older brother Mike taught him how to play the guitar and the Blues while in Japan; Mike would later play bass with Bo Diddley. After their father was promoted to Sergeant Major, the Browns returned to California in 1966, living in Los Angeles where Brown switched to drums and performed in Jimi Hendrix/Sly Stone cover bands. In 1970, Brown’s father was assigned to Frankfurt, Germany, where Brown graduated from high school as a National Honor Society member in 1971. Education and career Brown attended the University of Oregon on an Army ROTC scholarship, earning Bachelor of Science degrees in Music and Psychology. As a student, he studied orchestral percussion with Charles Dowd and performed in touring productions of Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass” and Brecht/Weil’s “Three Penny Opera”. He was commissioned a Lieutenant in Military Intelligence and assigned to Europe in 1976. While serving in Greece as a NATO Liaison Officer, Brown performed as house drummer at the Jazz Club-Athens. In 1977, Brown assumed command of the US Army Chorus, Europe in Heidelberg, Germany. While living in Europe, he performed and toured with visiting jazz artists James Newton, John Carter,