The Jazz Guitar of
Andy Brown


Press: CD Reviews: Heavy Artillery

Chicago Tribune
CD Review "Heavy Artillery"

Guitarist Brown, who performs prolifically across the city, has admired and collaborated with guitarist Alden for years and began partnering with him at the Green Mill Jazz Club in 2010. Their subsequent engagements have been feasts of swing rhythm and free-flowing improvisation, the two guitarists trading ideas as swiftly or contemplatively as the repertoire has demanded. Their musical conversation finally has been documented on "Heavy Artillery," a title that captures the prowess each of the players, whose work remains rhythmically nimble, melodically lithe and texturally transparent...
read article →


The New York City Jazz Record
CD Review "Heavy Artillery"

The two guitarists’ performances should inspire jazz guitar students with their intricate unison lines, delicious counterpoint and skilled rhythmic support of each other’s solos...Django Reinhardt’s title track isn’t one of the gypsy’s better-known compositions but the guitarists reveal its inner beauty in swinging fashion. This is a superb meeting that merits a followup album....
read article →


Just Jazz Guitar
CD Review "Heavy Artillery"

If you enjoy great swinging jazz with a mix of standards, tunes from Brazil and more then you’ll love this. A bit reminiscent of the Barnes/Pizzarelli or Kress/Barnes duos of years ago both players exhibit superb timing and improvisational skills....
read article →


Downbeat Magazine
CD Review "Heavy Artillery"

✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ Chicagoan Brown and New Yorker Alden demonstrate an easy chemistry on this two-guitar quartet session... together they forge burning unisons and intricate counterpoint...
read article →


Jazz Times Magazine
CD Review "Heavy Artillery"

Alden and Brown never seem at a loss when it comes to refreshing a vintage tune, familiar or not. Both players excel at melodic embellishment, and when shifting from lead to rhythmic roles, as they often do, the transitions are seamless...
read article →


Los Angeles Jazz Scene Magazine
CD Review "Heavy Artillery"

Howard Alden and the Chicago-based Andy Brown are superb guitarists who think along similar ways. Well versed in prebop jazz and familiar with hundreds of standards and obscurities, they celebrate classic jazz not by repeating what has already been done but by reinterpreting songs in their own voices and styles. In other words, they add to the legacy of jazz...
read article →


Jersey JazzMagazine
CD Review "Heavy Artillery"

Listen to Howard Alden and Andy Brown on "Heavy Artillery" and you will hear some of the best duo playing in recent years...it is now possible for any listener to pop this disc into their player, and experience the remarkable musicianship of these two guitar giants having marvelous musical dialogues...
read article →


Ohio Fingerstyle Guitar Club
CD Review "Heavy Artillery"

These two guys are not just playing "a lot of notes" - they are playing a lot of tasteful notes together...they just seem to not only be playing at a world class level - they sound like they are truly enjoying the experience with each other whether they are complementing, harmonizing, or point-counter-pointing with each other...Two guitarists that were meant to play with each other...
read article →


Midwest Record
CD Review "Heavy Artillery"

The two old New York jazz guitar pals deliver the inside out version of the classic cutting contest and it sounds so good. Just like in the old days, this was recorded in Chicago in an afternoon...An utterly smoking set for the real jazzbo looking for some real sounds that hit the mark throughout...
read article →

All About Jazz Italia
CD Review "Heavy Artillery"

The music combines technical expertise, feeling, taste, melody, intense drive and interpretive imagination...The album is addictive and you will find yourself listening several times, especially if you love modern jazz guitar...
read article →

Heavy Artillery

For booking info or to join Andy's monthly mailing list, please contact Andy at: andybrownguitar@yahoo.com or 773-396-1180



Up