The Rev. Alonzo Webster Wright Lyceum Committee at Claflin University will present the John Brown Jazz Orchestra and John Brown and the Groove Shop Band at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29.

The performance is a part of the Rev. Alonzo Webster Wright Lyceum Program at Claflin. In 2007, former Claflin professor Mr. Vergil G. Wright presented a $100,000 gift to Claflin to establish a lyceum program in honor of his father, the Rev. Alonzo Webster Wright, a Claflin graduate. The goal of the lyceum program is to help nurture the personal and academic growth of students by expanding their intellectual and personal development in social, civic and academic realms. An event is held in the fall and spring of each school year ranging from music and the arts to science and humanities.

The cost for the public is $20 and $5 for non-Claflin students and children under 12. Limited group special seating is available. Tickets are available at the Claflin University Cashier's Office in Tingley Memorial Hall and at the Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center.

John Brown is a native of Fayetteville, N.C., and a graduate of the School of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the School of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He currently serves as professor and director of the Jazz Program at Duke University, and serves part time on the faculties of UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.

When he was young, Brown took piano lessons from close family friend Frances Hunter and then began studying the bass violin under Susan Ellington when he was 9 years old. At the age of 13, Brown began performing with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra and was playing principal bass while still in high school. At UNC-Greensboro, he studied bass with Jack Budrow, and while an undergraduate, began performing regularly with the North Carolina Symphony.

In college, Brown developed a love for jazz and began pursuing performance opportunities in jazz as well as classical music. He has performed in the U.S. and abroad including such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Blue Note, Blues Alley, the Hollywood Bowl and at major jazz festivals. Brown has performed with artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, Elvin Jones, Nnenna Freelon, Diahann Carroll, Rosemary Clooney, Nell Carter, Lou Donaldson, Slide Hampton, Nicholas Payton, Frank Foster, Cedar Walton, Fred Wesley and Mark Whitfield.

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