Leonard Brown is an associate professor at Northeastern University in Boston, with a joint appointment in the Music and African American Studies Department. In addition to Jazz Studies, he also teaches courses in Ethnomusicology. It could easily be argued that he breathes jazz. Approximately once a year, Brown visits his son, Omrao, owner of Bohemian Caverns, one of D.C.’s best jazz clubs. It is then that Leonard switches into his performance mode as a professional saxophonist, composer and arranger.

“I timed my visit this year to do a tribute to Dr. [Martin Luther] King,” he explained. “That weekend allows me to do a thematic approach to the music. Dr. King clearly understood how jazz has to do with the African-American quest for freedom. I teach courses that educate students on how much [jazz] has to do with human rights and freedom.”