Originally from Eugene, Oregon, guitarist, banjo, and ukulele player Vince Brown has been a vital member of the Olympia, Washington, music scene since he moved there in 1984.
Brown, who's a self-taught musician, is versatile and adept in many styles. He's a particularly skillful swing guitarist and a founding member of Hot Club Sandwich, a sizzling jazz manouche group that formed in 2000.
These days, Brown is well known in the region for a variety of music projects and efforts. He plays regular solo guitar gigs, performs for swing dancers, is a private music teacher, and regularly supports Olympia Jazz Central's Monday Night Jazz event.
KNKX caught up with Brown about his music projects and role in the region's jazz scene.
Answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
What projects or bands are you focused on right now and how did those bands/projects come about?
I do a lot of solo work and work as an accompanist for numerous vocalists and instrumentalists, and the occasional jazz choir on an on-call basis. In addition to pick-up gigs, I’ve play solo at Swing Wine Bar in Olympia every Wednesday and at Nineveh Assyrian Restaurant’s Jazz Brunch every Sunday.
I also host Vince Brown+1 every other Thursday at The Eastside Club in Olympia. This involves inviting a guest to sit down with me without rehearsals to see what kind of music we can make. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to entice a roster of sensational players, and the occasional comedian, and it’s really been quite thrilling. On occasion, I’ve met someone for the very first time when we shake hands onstage and start to play.
Olympia is extremely fortunate to have a thriving swing dance community thanks to the work of numerous individuals, and OlyDance in particular, who host a swing dance at The Eagles Ballroom in downtown Olympia every Tuesday. Once a month they hire me to put a dance band together, and again I have been lucky enough to attract stellar players from all over the Pacific Northwest to join me. I love playing for dancers!
How would you describe the music you make and the type of musician that you are? Do you see yourself exclusively as a jazz musician?
Unlike most of the folks I play with these days, I don’t have a professional degree in music. I grew up playing in string bands, playing bluegrass, Irish, Klezmer, Old Time, and other styles. I first played professionally at the age of 12 accompanying a fiddler for Swedish folk dances. When The David Grisman Quintet appeared in 1977, I was quite taken and it quite naturally led me to the music of Django Reinhardt, and from there to an interest in early American swing music.
On occasion, I’ve met someone for the very first time when we shake hands onstage and start to play.Vince Brown
I was playing out semi-professionally in various string bands when I was lucky enough to fall in with some great players and put together the band Hot Club Sandwich. I say "lucky" because every player in that band was better than I was and it pushed me to work hard at becoming a better musician. It also taught me most of what I know about the business end of things, like how to book and how to promote, which is perhaps the most crucial and often underrated piece of surviving as a professional musician. It was playing with Hot Club Sandwich that gave me the confidence to quit my day job and become a full time musician.
These days, despite the thousands of hours of practice time and dedication to the work of being a musician, I still feel like a bit of an outsider. There is a shared language and approach that comes from being an academically-trained musician that I occasionally envy. I sometimes wonder, if my parents could have afforded that horn I begged for in grade school, if I might not now be a happy grown up band kid teaching in one of the local schools.
Do you remember when you chose to pursue jazz music? What inspired that decision?
When I was a youngster, I lived in Eugene where there was a record shop, Prez Records, run by an English ex-pat by the name of John Fairweather. John was a walking encyclopedia of jazz. He had moved to the states in the '40s to work as a domestic in New York so he could be closer to jazz and the players.
In the back of the store were stacks and stacks of 78s that John sold for a quarter each. I couldn’t afford the LPs, but I’d busk the streets of Eugene and bring what I made into the store where John would curate a history of jazz through the 78s I bought. Those records included Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings and Coleman Hawkings' Body and Soul, as well as records by many of the greats I mentioned before as my inspirations. It's how I discovered them all!
Ultimately though, my decision to pursue “jazz” per se had as much to do with economics as anything else. Playing solo jazz guitar means I can work and support myself on the money I make from gigs. I play old time banjo as well, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I would have a harder time paying the bills as a solo banjo player, and I likely would have an even harder time surviving in a five-piece band.
Who would you say are your biggest musical influences?
Yikes! What a question! Everyone I’ve ever heard?! I mean, of course I’ve listened and studied all the greats: Lester Young, Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, Junior Barnard, Tony Rice, Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Connie Boswell, George Barnes, Fats Waller, Tommy Jarrell, Billie Holiday, Tal Farlow, Duke Robillard, Charlie Christian, Hank Williams, Norman Blake, Django Reinhardt, Oscar Alemán, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. I could go on forever!
I hope I have distilled all the listening and study I have done into an approach that is somewhat unique. I like to think it borrows from everyone, but doesn’t sound like any player in particular.
Who is or was your biggest role model in the regional jazz scene, if you have one? Why?
Perhaps more importantly, when I think about role models, are the folks I’ve played with who are present, kind and fun to be with.Vince Brown
I have played with some remarkable Pacific Northwest players who have had quite an influence on my playing, like guitarists Greg Ruby and Kevin Connor in Hot Club Sandwich. I also spent three years sitting on the bandstand every Monday night next to Cary Black, one of the most accomplished bassists I have ever had the opportunity to play with.
Guitarist Ray Wood also taught me more in one afternoon at his house than I had previously learned in a lifetime. Olympia's Syd Potter, a remarkable musician, was the arranger at Harlequin Productions when I played the pit and kept me working hard to meet his expectations. I also spent many nights up late playing and talking about jazz with pianist Andrew Dorsett, and that definitely challenged me to be a better and more thoughtful player.
Perhaps more importantly, when I think about role models, are the folks I’ve played with who are present, kind and fun to be with. People like bassist Steve Luceno, bassist Osama Afifi, saxophonist Cliff Colon, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Greta Pedersen, vocalist Jessica Blinn, and many more. It doesn’t mean they don’t bring rigor and a commitment to excellence to the gig, rather it’s that they recognize that playing jazz together requires listening and making everyone feel welcome, whether you are on the bandstand or off.
What’s your favorite local jazz venue and why?
Well, I guess I’d have to say Monday Night Jazz at The Olympia Eagles hosted by Olympia Jazz Central (OJC). OJC is a volunteer-run organization that brings stellar performers to the stage every Monday night here in Olympia. Cas Nixon runs sound, and you can always count on her to make it sound as good as it can be. The clientele comes back week after week and is heavily weighted towards musicians. It feels more like a community than a show.
