Six Brown Brothers


The Six Brown Brothers, later known as the Five Brown Brothers, were a Canadian vaudeville era saxophone sextet consisting of six brothers. They were known for their comedic musical acts as well as their many recordings. They performed as clowns with white makeup and one in blackface. Their performances include ragtime and minstrel group acts.

History

The brothers comprising the Six Brown Brothers were, William, Tom, Alec, Percy, Fred, and Vern Brown. The Brown Brothers lived in Lindsay, Ontario until 1893. The band was led by Tom Brown, and the first instrumentation consisted of a saxophone quintet. The group began working at circuses, and later worked in minstrel and vaudeville shows, and then on Broadway. In 1913, they added a second baritone sax. The group toured in 1912-14 with Primrose and Dockstader's Minstrels, and later to Scotland and elsewhere in Europe. Additional non-family members also played with the group.
Between 1911 and 1920 the brothers recorded a number of well-known songs, including "Walking the Dog" and "The Darktown Strutter's Ball".
The brothers often performed dressed in clown outfits. In 1925 the brothers toured Australia.
After they broke up in 1933 only the leader, Tom Brown, continued as a musician but with limited success.
In 2004, a collection of the Six Brown Brothers' recordings, That Moaning Saxophone, was released in CD format. That year a book about the group's career, That Moaning Saxophone: The Six Brown Brothers and the Dawning of a Musical Craze, written by Bruce Vermazien, was published by Oxford University Press.

Literature