Brown, Thomas P. (Thomas Pollok), 1879-
Variant namesBiographical notes:
Publicity manager for the Western Pacific Railroad Company.
From the description of Over the Sierra Nevada Mountains via the Western Pacific Railroad Feather River route, 1940. (University of Nevada, Reno). WorldCat record id: 43669316
Thomas Philip Brown was a saxophonist with his own orchestra in the late 1930s and early 1940s. According to his publicity statement, Tom Brown was a graduate music student at the University of Wisconsin before he moved to San Francisco. In San Francisco he served as a staff artist at radio station KFRC and also as arranger for the Fox Theatre. The Tom Brown Orchestra, a well-received dance band, played several clubs in California including an extended booking at the Bal Tabarin in 1936. This was followed by another extended booking at Seattle’s Club Victor. The Orchestra also performed numerous radio shows. Tom Brown orchestrated much of his orchestra’s music. In 1939 Tom Brown performed at the Golden Gate International Exposition as a member of the Walt Roesner Orchestra.
Over the years, Tom Brown composed and arranged his own music as well as that of others. In 1941 his Solvejg Stomp and Swingin’ with Anitra were published. In the same year, his arrangement of Rex Lipton and Meyer Grace’s What I’d Be Without You was published. In 1942 he signed a contract to orchestrate and record Bob Bryan and Frances Lewis’ I’m Sincere and in 1942 his arrangement of Walter P. Murphy’s My Bugle Reverie, was published. In 1949, G. Schirmer, Inc. published his Piece for Four Clarinets .
Tom Brown eventually moved east and became a music copyist for Broadway and touring musicals. He worked on musicals ranging from 1960s Mr. President to 1980s 42nd Street . With his company, Music Associates, Inc., Brown also orchestrated and copied music on order for the Samuel French Company. Brown also copied music for the recordings of Carousel in 1965; 42nd Street in 1981; and My Fair Lady in 1976, as well as for the 1981 television production of Camelot starring Richard Harris.
In the 1950s Music Associates, Inc. produced a series of translated opera records under the label Opera of the Month as well as series of opera appreciation texts titled Let’s Understand Opera! .
From the guide to the Thomas P. Brown papers, 1934-1982, (The New York Public Library. Music Division.)
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Subjects:
- Arrangers (Musicians)
- Composers
- Musicals
- Railroads
Occupations:
- Arrangers (Musicians)
- Composers
- Saxophonists
Places:
- California (as recorded)
- Utah (as recorded)
- Feather River Region (Calif.) (as recorded)
- Nevada (as recorded)
