Miles Brown

Born and raised in the rolling hills of Ithaca, New York, I was often exposed to music. My father is a great jazz musician and teacher, so music was a constant in my life. In fact, I think one of my first words was “bebop.” After huge frustrations trying to play the piano along with the Sesame Street theme, my mom enrolled me in piano classes at the age of four. That didn’t last long, however, and I soon started playing cello, bass, and guitar in elementary school. The running joke for my parents at this point was that my dad could never find a decent bass player, so he decided to “grow his own.”

Even though I was still not 100% positive about becoming a musician, I applied to Eastman School of Music, got in, and spent the next four and a half years freezing to death, but loving the constant musical environment. I met great musicians and friends, and tried almost everything Eastman had to offer. After graduating with a double degree in jazz and music education, I decided to move to NYC to gain some life experience, and get my Master’s Degree at Mannes College of Music.

From 2009–2018, I was the jazz program coordinator at Oakland University, where I taught jazz classes and applied lessons.  For the 2017–2018 academic year, I taught jazz classes at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.  In Fall 2018, I joined the University of Delaware’s full-time faculty as assistant professor of string bass and jazz where I teach applied string bass lessons, jazz history, jazz arranging, and global improvisation.​