| Birth Name: | Alan James Bown |
| Birth Date: | 21 July 1942 |
| Birth Place: | Slough |
| Death Place: | Slough |
| Genre: | jazz |
| Instrument: | trumpet |
| Past Member Of: | The John Barry Seven, The Alan Bown Set, Jonesy |
Alan James Bown was a jazz trumpeter who was active in the early 1960s jazz scene in London. He performed in The John Barry Seven, and later his own band The Alan Bown Set. He was born Alan James Bown on 21 July 1942 in Slough, Berkshire, where he also passed away in 2014.
Bown was in Royal Air Force until 1963, and shortly after joined The Embers.[1] They covered jazz and American Rhythm and blues, and played at the Star-Club at the same as The Beatles. Bown left the Embers and joined The John Barry Seven. John Barry made Alan the leader of the touring band.[2] John Barry discontinued the JB7 in 1965, and Alan Bown gathered Stan Haldane, Jeff Bannister and Dave Green from the Seven to form his own band, The Alan Bown Set, which started around May 1965.[3] [4] They went under many names, including The Alan Bown! or just Alan Bown.
They were signed to four different music labels from 1965–1972, Deram, Island, CBS, and United Artists. The band appeared on Top of the Pops in 1968 with "We Can Help You", that was at no. 26 in the UK, but with the pressing plant going on strike, the single couldn't go any further.[5] A 16 mm film by Bannister of the Top of the Pops performance is on YouTube.[6]
The Alan Bown Set had two singers who would go on to become famous singers on their own, Jess Roden (who was in Bronco) and Robert Palmer (who had a solo hit with "Addicted to Love"). The Alan Bown disbanded in February 1972, and Bown formed a new band (also called The Alan Bown) that lasted until July 1972, that had Dave Lawson (keyboards), Tony Dangerfield (bass) and Frank White (guitar) replaced by Pete Goodall, Nick Payn (tenor saxophone and flute) and Alan Coulter (drums).
Alan Bown later joined Jonesy, a prog rock band formed in 1970 by John Evan-Jones (guitar), Jamie Kaleth (lead vocals/keys) Gypsy Jones (lead vocals/bass) and Plug Thomas (drums).[7] He then worked as an A&R manager for CBS Records. Bown died of a long illness 16 December 2014, at age 72.[8] His funeral was at Reading Crematorium on 30 December.[9]