Trinidadian-born, NYC-schooled & heralded as “Canada’s preeminent Jazz trumpeter” by NYC’s Village Voice, multi-award winning trumpet player Brownman Ali stands at the forefront of innovation in the Canadian jazz community. A protégé to his teacher, Grammy-winning trumpet legend, Randy Brecker, he tirelessly leads 8 unique ensembles of his own including the internationally acclaimed Miles Davis influenced BROWNMAN ELECTRYC TRIO, and the award-winning CRUZAO latin-jazz quintet. In 2009 he launched his own record label: Browntasauras Records, which saw the Electryc Trio’s flagship release “Juggernaut” shoot to number 3 on the iTunes USA jazz charts. The label is now a home to all his ensembles and is an incubator for a new generation of forward-minded jazz artists.

In high demand in the studio world with over 300 CD appearances to date, Brownman delivers stylistically authentic horn playing over a wide range of styles from bebop to hiphop having recorded or toured with the likes of Guru’s Jazzmatazz (replacing Donald Byrd in that primordial ensemble), Mos Def, KRS-1, Jay-z, Quincy Jones, Paul Simon, Mingus Dynasty Big Band, Gary Bartz, John Scofield, Wayne Shorter, Chucho Valdes & far too many more to name here.

Brownman – now splitting his time between Brooklyn, NY and Toronto, ON is nationally recognized as one of the most unique and provocative improvising trumpet players in North America and is widely regarded as a vanguard for the evolution of Jazz in Canada.

A highly decorated artist, his accolades include multiple JUNO nominations, being GRAMMY Award long listed, 2 National Jazz Awards (11 nominations over the years), 10 Global Music Awards, a CBC Galaxie Rising Star award, a SOCAN composers award, Montreal Jazz Fest’s “Grand Prix Du Jazz” award, 7 Toronto Independent Music Awards (16 nominations), an International Independent Music Award, an induction into the WHO’S WHO IN BLACK CANADA, a BRAVO! channel documentary on his life, NOW magazine naming him “Toronto’s Best Jazz Musician”, CBC Radio Canada named him “one of the most recorded trumpet players in Canadian history”, the Trinidad & Tobago Consulate General awarded him with a citation for being a “Distinguished National of Trinidad”, and was once listed by Air Canada’s in flight magazine as ”One of the Top 10 reasons to visit Toronto”.

Brownman currently leads and composes actively for 8 groups of his own, all of which have garnered critical acclaim in their own diverse idioms:
CRUZAO (assembled in quintet & trio permutations), CRUZAO GRUPO MONSTRUOSO, GRUVASYLUM, BROWNMAN ELECTRYC TRIO, BROWNMAN AKOUSTIC TRIO / QUARTET / QUINTET, MARRÓN MATIZADO, ARECIBO, and ALI BROS.