Phoenix, Maryland
Scott E. Brown, MD, MA, has been studying ragtime and jazz for almost 50 years as an independent researcher. He is the biographer of the American composer and pioneering ragtime/jazz pianist James P. Johnson. His first book on Johnson, published by Scarecrow Press and the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies in 1987, titled The Life and Music of James P. Johnson: A Case of Mistaken Identity, was an outgrowth of his senior thesis at Yale University. He earned a master’s degree in jazz history and research from Rutgers-Newark, Newark, NJ, during which time he authored his thesis on pianist Jaki Byard, available on Google Scholar. Dr. Brown has written on music for the Yale Daily News, Syncopated Times, Journal of Jazz Studies, Library of Congress, International Dictionary of Black Composers, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Brilliant Corners, Oregon Festival of American Music, and liner notes for Mosaic Records, Music Masters, Jazzology, and AT Music Productions. Dr. Brown has lectured extensively, including at the Peabody Institute and Conservatory, Rutgers University, Baltimore School for the Arts, Jazz Education Network, Smalls Jazz Club (NYC), New Brunswick Historical Society, New Brunswick African American Heritage Committee, the University of Cincinnati, the Central Pennsylvania Ragtime & American Music Festival, the New Orleans Traditional Jazz Camp, and local community organizations. He has appeared on radio on WWOZ (New Orleans) and KUOR (University of Redlands, CA), and on New Jersey Public Television. His new book on Johnson, titled Speakeasies to Symphonies — The Jazz Genius of James P. Johnson, is the product of extensive new research, inclusive of information from Johnson’s personal papers and exhaustive archival research. It will be published by the University Press of Mississippi with release expected in January 2026. Dr. Brown is a practicing physician in Baltimore, Maryland, and Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Institute at Sinai, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. Much of his medical career included treating musicians and dancers. In 2021, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Pingry School, Basking Ridge, NJ, his high school alma mater, for his work as a jazz historian, and in performing arts medicine.
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One Hundred Years Of The Charleston: It’s Origins, Essence, And Staying Power
Thursday, January 8, 2026
3:30 PM - 5:30 PM CST
