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Brower, William A.

May 4, 2021 By Michael Fitzgerald Leave a Comment

Writer, historian, producer, stage manager. Born May 9, 1948 in Toledo, Ohio; died April 12, 2021 in Washington, D.C.

As a student at Antioch College, Brower was active in efforts to create a Black Studies program there. After his graduation in 1971 he soon moved to Washington. Over the course of his career he wrote on jazz regularly for The Washington Informer and occasionally for The Washington Post as well as for magazines including Jazz Times and Down Beat. His work as a stage manager and at a local record store both brought him into contact with jazz fans and musicians.

Brower had a particular interest in the history of jazz in Washington, D.C. He produced a series of concerts at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in 2009 featuring aspects of D.C. jazz history. Among the oral histories he conducted for the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program were those of Jimmy Cobb, Buck Hill, and Frank Wess. Brower himself was featured in the 2018 book DC Jazz: Stories of Jazz from Washington, D.C.

He was part of the team that produced the Capital City Jazz Festival in the 1980s. He was also integral to the jazz programs and other events of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

Brower died following complications from a stroke he had suffered in 2019 that left him incapacitated.


Bibliography

7756 BillBrower items 1 chicago-fullnote-bibliography author asc https://jazzmf.com/wp/wp-content/plugins/zotpress/
Brower, William A. Interview. Interview by W. Royal Stokes, March 15, 1985. W. Royal Stokes Collection. Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Jenkins, Willard. “Notes from a Keen Observer and Scene Maker.” In DC Jazz: Stories of Jazz Music in Washington, DC. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2018.
Jenkins, Willard. “The Independent Ear | Bill Brower: A True Jazz Cultural Warrior.” Accessed April 23, 2021. https://www.openskyjazz.com/2021/04/bill-brower-a-true-jazz-cultural-warrior/.
Schudel, Matt. “William A. Brower, Fixture in D.C. Jazz as Writer, Producer and Stage Manager, Dies at 72.” Washington Post, April 17, 2021.

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