Derek Brown (USA)
Derek Brown (USA). Genre: jazz, funk
He is a true innovator and a YouTube sensation. Crossing genres from jazz to funk to pop, Derek's unique playing style, using creative new "beatbox-like" techniques, is wowing audiences across the globe. Over the past six years Derek served as Director of Jazz Studies at Abilene Christian University, now he lives and works in Chicago, playing in various bands and projects around the world. His recent music videos and weekly lessons «Beatbox SAX» on YouTube became very popular among the saxophonists and music lovers all around the world. With a fairly straightforward musical upbringing in small-town Michigan, Derek really started to show some creative musical juice in the summers between years at Hope College. Derek began to write original tunes and experiment with the saxophone, creating his own unique approach to playing. He further challenged himself to see how full a sound he could get out of one horn, with no electronic help. Using some established techniques, as well as some not-so-established Derek found something truly fresh! A couple of weeks ago, his first album got released. It covers quite some ground, starting from Bach and going up to the present with a Justin Biber cover. In his bold new style, Derek simultaneously mixes dozens of classic saxophone extended techniques, as well as many of his own innovations like striking the sax with rings, singing lyrics while playing, and even putting an egg shaker in the horn. All of these elements work together to create a surprisingly full, polyphonic sound (percussion + bass lines + melodies) all with one traditionally monophonic instrument, the tenor sax. And it’s all done live without any looping!