Tatiana Mayfield Brown to join the DU Lamont School of Music
The University of Denver Lamont School of Music is pleased to welcome Tatiana Mayfield Brown as Assistant Professor of Contemporary Popular Music, starting in Fall 2023.
Brown, also known as Tatiana LadyMay Mayfield, has been singing and playing jazz since the age of thirteen. Since then, she has performed in various venues and festivals throughout the U.S., which in turn have earned her rave reviews from listeners and musicians in addition to numerous awards. Brown has degrees from the University of North Texas and the University of Texas at Arlington. In addition to her vocal skills, she plays piano and trombone, composes, and teaches voice and music theory.
Brown has recorded three albums: From All Directions (2009), A Portrait Of LadyMay (2012), and The Next Chapter (2018). The first album was recorded while she was still attending the University of North Texas, where she received her degree in Jazz Studies. Jazz journalist Scott Yanow described her voice as “attractive” with “excellent elocution” and a “joyful spirit”. On her sophomore album A Portrait Of LadyMay (2012), Harvey Siders, former writer of JazzTimes and Downbeat magazines, described her intonation as “flawless” and her scatting “as natural as breathing.” In May of 2017, she was awarded 3rd place in the “Performance” category of the International Songwriting Competition for her original song “Forgive Me Someday” from her latest album The Next Chapter.
In 2023, Brown was named as an awardee for the “Next Jazz Legacy” program created by NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington. This is a partnership with the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and New Music USA with funding from the Mellon Foundation. Through this program, she will be mentored by pianist/vocalist/composer Patrice Rushen and jazz/soul harpist/composer Brandee Younger.
In 2017, Brown was awarded 2nd place in the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocals Competition held at NJPAC in New Jersey. Also in 2017, she received the “Jazz Innovators Award” from Dallas, TX as part of Jazz Appreciation Month for her contributions in jazz education to young people in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Brown was also chosen as one of the twelve semi-finalists to compete in the prestigious 2010 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition that was held in Washington, D.C before a legendary panel of judges.
“I am very excited to join the Lamont School of Music at DU,” said Brown. “I believe it is a place where I can share my passion for creative and innovative musical ideas. I also want to inspire students to have a forward-thinking mindset when they enter the contemporary music marketplace. DU has an outstanding music program, and I am honored to have the opportunity to educate students alongside such an accomplished faculty. I’m also looking forward to sharing my love of bridging traditional, non-traditional, and modern musical styles with the use of different technologies with students.”
“I am delighted that Tatiana Brown will be joining the Lamont faculty this Fall,” said Keith Ward, Director of the Lamont School of Music. “The breadth and depth of her talent and abilities promise to make a substantial contribution to our program. The entire Lamont community looks forward to welcoming her.”
You can learn more about Tatiana Mayfield Brown at her website, www.tatianamayfield.com.
