Cleo Brown

Cleopatra Brown (December 8, 1909 – April 15, 1995), known as Cleo Brown, C. Patra Brown or Cleo Patra Brown, was an American blues and jazz vocalist and pianist. She was the first woman instrumentalist to receive the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship.

Life While Brown's place of birth has been published as Meridian, Mississippi, Brown told W. Balliett in a 1986 interview published in The New Yorker that she was born in De Kalb, Mississippi, shortly before her father took a position as a pastor in Meridian. She played piano in the Baptist church as a child. In 1919, her family moved to Chicago, and she began learning piano from her brother who worked with "Pinetop" Smith, playing boogie-woogie for dances. From around 1923, she worked in vaudeville, as well as taking gigs in clubs. and she is credited as an influence on Dave Brubeck, who played during the intermissions of her shows, and Marian McPartland. She played regularly at clubs in Chicago, toured widely, and recorded for both Decca and Capitol Records.

From the mid-1970s until 1981, she performed under the name of C. Patra Brown on radio shows in Denver, Colorado. She replaced boogie-woogie music with slower, inspirational music. She returned to record again, and performed on National Public Radio.

She gave birth to a son, Matthew, and had four grandchildren. She died on April 15, 1995, in Denver, Colorado.

Discography Living in the Afterglow (Audiophile, 1989) 1935–1951 (Chronological Classics)