Stunning Jazz Concert Honors Warren and Janet Brown

Grammy-winning cellist Eugene Friesen and ensemble perform :: 03/29/10

“Many years ago, with some colleagues, I published a book called Whatever Happened to the Soul?  Now I know,” said Professor of Psychology Warren S. Brown, speaking of the soul-stirring music offered by cellist Eugene Friesen and a distinguished group of musicians at a Jazz Fusion Concert held Friday evening, March 26. His comments were offered at the conclusion of the concert, which was held to honor the work of Dr. Brown and his wife, Janet Brown, and the legacy of Lee Edward Travis, founding dean of Fuller’s School of Psychology.

Proceeds from the concert, held at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, benefited the Warren and Janet Brown Scholarship and the Travis Research Institute, for which Brown serves as director.

Friesen, an internationally acclaimed concert artist, has won three Grammy Awards and serves as Artist-in-Residence at St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York. Joining him for the concert were Tim Ray, celebrated pianist known for his work with singers Lyle Lovett, Victoria Williams and Jane Siberry, and percussionists Ted Moore and Leonard “Doc” Gibbs, who plays for the popular cooking show Emeril Live! Also performing at the evening concert were the Towne Singers chamber ensemble, a community chorus from La Cañada, California.

The musicians delivered an extraordinary program that included jazz, classical, African, and sacred music, ranging from toe-tapping rhythms to stirring melodic reflections. “Eugene and company have brought us magnificent treasures through their music,” said School of Psychology Dean Winston Gooden, “to help us celebrate the treasures we have in Warren and Janet Brown.”

Warren and Janet Brown were honored at the concert for the inspiration they have given to students and others over the years to live and work with integrity and professional excellence. The scholarship in their name seeks to further their influence by supporting students who want to impact the lives of others through neuropsychological research. “The dynamic of a scholarship fund like this,” Janet Brown commented, “is that it is giving that keeps on giving.”

Robert Freedman, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, spoke also about the legacy of Lee Edward Travis. Dr. Travis operated under three principles, he noted. First, simple things—such as rhythm—underlie the more complicated. “Rhythm is the most simple part of the music you are hearing tonight, yet it creates and shapes so much of it.” Travis secondly emphasized conflict and its resolution—“and the creativity of music,” explained Dr. Freedman, “arises from the resolution of conflict.” Travis’s third and most important principle, he concluded, was faith. “It was faith that led Lee Edward Travis to come to Fuller Seminary and help launch its School of Psychology.”

To learn more about the Warren and Janet Brown Scholarship, click here.