April 9, 2012
One of my favorite professors from Williams passed away last week. He was brilliant, intense, and charismatic. I still have my papers and exams from his class on jazz history and spent a few hours re-reading them over the weekend. I tend to look back at previous work and minimize it with thoughts of "wish I had tried harder" or "should have spent more time on it," but with him I don't feel that way at all. I worked hard because I wanted to impress him, and in the process learned the material, got a good grade, and became a better writer and critic.
True charisma is invaluable, especially in the hands of a professor who spent 20+ years at the front of a classroom. Professor Brown will be missed by many, especially those who had the privilege to know and admire him.
Here's a playlist with some of the music that we studied in his class.