In the end, music is just music. Music is everywhere, wild and tame…and sometimes provocative and challenging! Jazz is all of that. Improvisation, you never know what’s going to happen. Thursday, August 21 we look to welcome a preeminent voice of Canadian jazz now based in Brooklyn, New York. Brownman Ali is a powerful musician and explosive trumpet player! He leads 8 individual ensembles of his own, all signed to his Brooklyn record label Browntasauras Records, when not touring or recording with A-list hip hop and pop artists! He will be here with his 2x National Jazz Award winning electric-jazz trio performing truly “electryc” music! Don’t miss a night of music down the road less travelled. The Brownman Electryc Trio performs live at The Cove Inn on Thursday, August 21. Details and reservations here: web link

Q: Playing trumpet has always been a fascinating instrument to me. Your reputation as a visionary with the use of electronics on the horn is well documented -- could you talk a bit about how that all came about, and what exactly is the "electric trumpet" which you play in BET? What is it about trumpet that is truly special to you?

Brownman: So the "electric trumpet" moniker is really just a way of saying "trumpet run through a myriad of effects pedals" -- but that's a mouthful, so "electric trumpet" is just easier. And that started from coming up under Randy Brecker, and seeing his incredible use of electronics added to the trumpet sound in the 70's. As legend has it, Miles (Davis) saw Randy using a wah-wah pedal on the horn in the late 60's, which is what inspired Miles' own use of electronics. But I'm just trying to follow in the footsteps of Miles and Brecker. The effects gives me other colors to paint with as an improviser. Trumpet is 1 sound -- and I love it, but the pedals gives me a pallette of other colors I can work with. So it's really just about having other options as a narrative soloist to draw upon.

Q: Anybody in the business knows that New York City is the Mecca of jazz. It’s no wonder that you moved there to be part of the music scene to the fullest, at the highest echelon of the art. What’s it like being immersed in the city and surrounded by a great scene like that all the time?

Brownman: It's mind-blowing, man. I'm in Brooklyn, which has a different vibe than Manhattan. New York City, as a whole, pulses with life and energy. But there's something special and different about Brooklyn. Maybe because I came up checking out Mos Def and Talib Kweli and KRS-One and Biggie and all those essential Brooklyn rappers who changed the game around the globe, but BK is really in my DNA now. The other thing about the NY scene, as the jazz mecca of the world, is that EVERYONE's a bad ass. Everyone can play, everyone hustles, everyone grinds. So that's gonna either depress you mightily -- or inspire you. I got inspired. The calibre of playing is astonishing and you learn from every situation you're in. It's a place where evolution can happen easily if you let it happen, and if you're willing to pay attention to the lessons being taught around you every day, but the city itself. Most of my playing comes out of what I learned in Brooklyn, under Randy Brecker's tutelage. I owe him and the city a lot. There's a great Mos Def track called "Brooklyn" that sums of my feelings completely. It's on "Black on Both Sides" -- check it out!

Q: I’ve always been a massive fan of hip-hop since my formative years of listening to the music. One of my favourite hip-hop records was Step in the Arena by Gangstarr featuring the late MC, Guru. How did it come to be that you were asked to be a part of his project, Jazzmatazz, as well as become a first call player for Jay-Z, Missy Elliot, Kanye West, Paul Simon and even Quincy Jones? These encounters must be leaving an indelible stamp on your playing!

Brownman: Yeah, man, that's a murderous record! 1990 was a big year in hip-hop. "Fear of a Black Planet" from Public Enemy dropped that year, as well as LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out", so hip-hop radio was bubbling with greatness. I was in the midst of all that as a young jazz musician, who loved hip-hop as much as jazz, and all of it was seeping into my being. How could it not?

And I had been watching Guru's love of jazz manifest since DJ Premier's beat-making was steeped in jazz samples. Then Guru started Jazzmatazz, using real-deal jazz musicians: Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Garrett, Donald Byrd – all of my heroes. Jazzmatazz Vol. 1 was an iconic album. In 2006, Donald Byrd was getting ready to retire, and Guru was looking for another trumpet soloist to take over his chair. A lot of my heroes got that call: Roy Hargrove, Russell Gun, Igmar Thomas, Brecker as well. But Randy said, "You don't want an old white man doing this. Check out Brownman, he's exactly what you want." So, I made the shortlist.

All those monsters must not have been available, because I was amazingly called to sub for Donald one gig. It was so thrilling to stand next to Guru! And when the gig ended, you shake hands, and the assumption is that Guru would go back to using his regular guys. What I didn't know was I was being assessed… auditioned. And, 3 months later, I got a call asking if I wanted to replace Donald Byrd in Guru's Jazzmatazz and tour the world! WHAT?!?! AND appear on Jazzmatazz Vol. 4? WHAT?!?!? I think I lost consciousness for a bit.

So, needless to say, that changed my life. I did five world tours with Guru's Jazzmatazz between 2006 to 2010, right up until we so tragically lost him to cancer. That completely changed my life man. Touring the globe and standing next to a man I consider to have the same impact on hip-hop that Miles had on jazz. They were both evolutionists, always looking to the future, always pushing envelopes, always fearless to try new things and not be defined by the past. I try and pay tribute to that in how I exist today, and try to embody that same ethos.

After Guru died, many wanted to use the Jazzmatazz trumpet player, so I started getting calls from my hip-hop heroes like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, Kool Herc, Q-Tip, Kanye, Missy, and then came the big call, which is Jay-Z. And it was all magnificent. But, these days I'm doing less of that work in order to focus more on the artists I'm signing and producing for Browntasauras Records. Like the young Nick Maclean, whom I've been mentoring for 11 year now, since he was 21, and whose last record "Convergence" was nominated for a JUNO for "jazz album of the year". I produced that record, played trumpet on all the tracks and wrote the last tune of the album. I'm extraordinarily proud of Nick and his evolution, and for the chance to work with the next generation of killer, put them on my label, and try and help them get noticed internationally. And the touring drummer in Brownman Electryc trio is 22 -- you'll see him when we come to Westport.... he's a beast.

Q: I love improvisation in any shape or form musically. Where do you think we are at this point in musical history with jazz as a music and a vehicle for improvisation and advancing the art itself?

Brownman: I think it's one of the most exciting times in history right now for jazz. Because of the internet and telecommunications, the world is collapsing and lines between genres are starting to blur. See man, there are 2 camps in jazz: The preservationists, who are playing music from the past, and the evolutionists, who are delivering the music of tomorrow. I want to delivering the music of tomorrow, like Miles did. Like Charlie Parker did. Like Coltrane did. Like Bill Evans did. But in today's paradigm, "tomorrow" often means folding in other genres, like hip-hop, soul, funk, R&B, drum-and-bass, Cuban music, etc. And I think that's a great thing, to see music so cross-pollinated.

There's going to be a segment of jazz lovers that only want to hear music from the past. And that's cool. But the audience who's hungry to hear the future -- that's who I'm looking for. As was Miles. As are cats like Robert Glasper and Christian Scott. I really feel like we're at an exciting point in history with so much multi-faceted music being made. It's why I lead 8 separate unique ensembles, so I can explore all those exciting textures and genres and framings. And, as an improviser who uses technology to augment my narrative output, it's such an exciting time! Micro-pedals that fit into my backpack on a flight instead of giant pedal-boards? Yes please! The world is full of forward looking artistry and technology and, as a jazz improviser, I find it an exciting time to be a part of all of it. Posted: Aug 18, 2025