His father, Willie Lee Brown, was an African American/Choctaw career soldier who met and married his mother, Sumi Ogita, in her native Tokyo, Japan after World War II.

While living in Europe, he performed and toured with visiting jazz artists James Newton, John Carter, Billy Bang, William Parker and the San Francisco group Cultural Odyssey.

[11] Upon completing his military service as a captain in 1980, he returned to San Francisco to pursue his career as a professional musician with groups Cultural Odyssey, United Front and others.

Brown was awarded two research fellowships at the Smithsonian Institution in 1988 and 1989, exploring the origins of the jazz drum set and the newly acquired Duke Ellington collection.

[17] Brown toured internationally with the Sirone Sextet,[18] Jon Jang's Pan-Asian Arkestra, and Mark Izu's Circle of Fire, recording with them and flautist James Newton.

[19][20] After leading a bi-coastal existence from 1992 to 1996, Brown returned to Berkeley to live with his wife Martha Faller and daughter Aiko Georgia, and complete his PhD in music.

[23] Their next CD, Monk's Moods was co-produced with Orrin Keepnews, featured Steve Lacy and earned a "Five-Star Masterpiece, Best CDs of 2003" rating by Downbeat magazine.

[16] Brown's additional performance credits include Cecil Taylor, Max Roach, Pharoah Sanders, Angela Davis, Zakir Hussain, Bobby Hutcherson, Andrew Hill, Henry Butler, Donald Harrison, Art Davis, Oliver Lake, George Lewis, Kurt Elling, Gerald Veasley, Steve Vai, and Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet, poets Sonia Sanchez, Jayne Cortez, San Francisco Poet Laureates Janice Mirikitani and devorah major.