Thomas Brothers | Scholars@Duke

Thomas Brothers
Professor of Music

Thomas Brothers joined the faculty at Duke in 1991 after completing his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. He has published three books on Louis Armstrong, most recently "Louis Armstrong Master of Modernism" (2014), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography. Professor Brothers regularly teaches in African-American music and rock, as well as in the medieval and renaissance periods. His most recent book is "Help! The Beatles Duke Ellington and the Magic of Collaboration" (W.W. Norton 2018).

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Professor of Music, Music, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2008

Contact Information

071 Mary Duke Biddle, Durham, NC 27708
Box 90665, Durham, NC 27708-0665
tdb@duke.edu (919) 660-3309

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., University of California - Berkeley 1991
- M.A., University of California - Berkeley 1982
- B.A., University of Pennsylvania 1979
Previous Appointments & Affiliations
- Associate Professor of Music, Music, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1998 - 2008
- Assistant Professor, Music, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1991 - 1998
Recognition
In the News
- JUN 15, 2021
  
  10 Books About Music from Duke Authors
- APR 21, 2015
  
  Duke Alumna, Professor Cited by Pulitzer Committee
- APR 21, 2015 Duke Today
  
  Duke Alumna, Professor Cited by Pulitzer Committee
- MAY 5, 2014 The Forward
  
  Thomas Brothers: Louis Armstrong's secret lessons from Judaism
- MAY 5, 2014 The Forward
  
  Thomas Brothers: Louis Armstrong's secret lessons from Judaism
- APR 3, 2014 The News & Observer
  
  Nasher event: Louis Armstrong was ahead of his time, when he could be
- MAR 18, 2014 “The Tavis Smiley Show”
  
  Thomas Brothers: ‘Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism’
- MAR 18, 2014 The Tavis Smiley Show
  
  Thomas Brothers: ‘Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism’
- FEB 28, 2014 The Denver Post, The Washington Post
  
  Book review: Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism by Thomas Brothers
- FEB 28, 2014 The New Yorker
  
  Thomas Brothers charts Louis Armstrong’s peak creative period
- FEB 10, 2014 The Washington Post
  
  Book Review: Louis Armstrong -- how he transformed American music
- FEB 10, 2014 The News & Observer
  
  Thomas Brothers comments: Not everybody greeted the onset of Beatlemania with, 'Yeah yeah yeah!'
- FEB 10, 2014 The Dinner Party Download
  
  Thomas Brothers: How Louis Armstrong blew audiences away
Awards & Honors
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Books
  - Brothers, Thomas. Help!: The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration. W. W. Norton & Company, 2018.
  - Brothers, T. Louis Armstrong Master of Modernism. W. W. Norton, 2014.
  - Brothers, T. Chromatic Beauty in the Late Medieval Chanson: An Interpretation of Manuscript Accidentals, 2006.
  - Brothers, T. Louis Armstrong’s New Orleans. W. W. Norton, 2006.
  - Brothers, T. Louis Armstrong: In His Own Words. Oxford University Press, 1999.
  - Brothers, T. Chromatic Beauty in the Late-Medieval Chanson: An Interpretation of Manuscript Chromatic Beauty in the Late-Medieval Chanson: An Interpretation of Manuscript Accidentals. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
- Academic Articles
  - Brothers, T. “Gladly Learn and Gladly Teach.” Confluence: The Journal of Graduate Liberal Studies xv, no. 1 (2009).
  - Brothers, T. “Review of How Low Can You Go: Anthology of the String Bass by Dick Spottswood and Steven Ledbetter.” Journal of the Society for American Music 2:1 (February 2008): 119–21.
  - Brothers, T. “Blues et Jazz.” La Revue Du Jazz Authentique Oct 2008; Nov 2008, no. 574–575 (2008).
  - Brothers, T. “Review of All of Me: The Complete Discography of Louis Armstrong by Jos Willems.” Asrc Journal 2:1 (February 2007): 119–21.
  - Brothers, T. “Flats and Chansons in MS Florence, B.N., P. 26.” Edited by Anne Stone and Yolanda Plumley, 2007.
  - Brothers, T. “Review of Pioneers of Jazz: The Story of the Creole Band by Lawrence Gushee.” Journal of the American Musicological Society fall 2006 (2007): 747–54.
  - Brothers, Thomas. “Review of Pioneers of jazz: The story of the Creole Band.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 59, no. 3 (2006): 747–55. https://doi.org/10.1525/jams.2006.59.3.747.
    Full Text Link to Item
  - Thomas Brothers, K. M. “Louis Armstrong, the 'Saints' and the 'Boys'.” Musica Oggi 21 (2001): 5–21.
  - Brothers, Thomas, and Laurence Bergreen. “Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life.” American Music 16, no. 2 (1998): 234–234. https://doi.org/10.2307/3052572.
    Full Text
  - Huot, Sylvia. “Allegorical Play in the Old French Motet: The Sacred and the Profane in Thirteenth-Century Polyphony.” Music and Letters 79 (1998): 584–85.
  - Brothers, Thomas. “Musica Ficta and Harmony in Machaut's Songs.” Journal of Musicology 15, no. 4 (October 1997): 501–28. https://doi.org/10.1525/jm.1997.15.4.03a00040.
    Full Text
  - Brothers, Thomas. “Ideology and Aurality in the Vernacular Traditions of African-American Music (CA. 1890-1950).” Black Music Research Journal 17, no. 2 (1997): 169–169. https://doi.org/10.2307/779368.
    Full Text
  - Brothers, Thomas. “Rob C. Wegman. Born for the Muses: The Life and Masses of Jacob Obrecht. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994. xxv + 406 pp. $45.00.” Renaissance Quarterly 50, no. 2 (1997): 652–53. https://doi.org/10.2307/3039243.
    Full Text
  - Thomas Brothers, K. R. “Contenance Angloise and Accidentals in Some Motets by Du Fay.” Plainsong and Medieval Music, no. 6 (1997): 21–51.
  - al, Yasuhiro Fujioka et, and Yasuhiro Fujioka et Brothers T. “Review of John Coltrane: A Discography and Musical Biography.” Fontes Artis Musicae 43 (1996): 305–6.
  - BROTHERS, T. “Review of MENSURATION AND PROPORTION SIGNS - ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION - BERGER,AMB.” Renaissance Quarterly 48, no. 3 (1995): 674–75. https://doi.org/10.2307/2862908.
    Full Text Link to Item
  - Thomas Brothers, K. R. “Sharps in Medee Fu: Questions of Style and Analysis.” Studi Musicali, no. 24 (1995): 3–25.
  - Brothers, Thomas. “Solo and Cycle in African-American Jazz.” The Musical Quarterly 78, no. 3 (1994): 479–509. https://doi.org/10.1093/mq/78.3.479.
    Full Text
  - Thomas Brothers, K. R. “Vestiges of the Isorhythmic Tradition in Masses and Motets, ca. 1450-1475.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 44 (1991): 1–56.
  - Thomas Brothers, K. R. “Two Chansons Rustiques a 4 by Claudin de Sermisy and Clement Janequin.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 34 (1981): 305–24.
- Book Sections
  - Brothers, T. ““Who’s On First, What’s Second, and Where Did They Come From?: The Social-Musical Textures of Early Jazz”.” In Early Twentieth-Century Brass Idioms: Art, Jazz and Other Popular Traditions, edited by Howard Weiner. Scarecrow Press, 2008.
  - Brothers, T. “Music.” In Lives and Legacies: An Encyclopedia of People Who Changed the World. Oryx Press, 2001.
  - Brothers, T. “Accidentals in Binchois’s Songs.” In Binchois Studies, edited by Dennis Slavin and Andrew Kirkman, 251–75. Oxford University Press, 2000.
  - Brothers, T. “Review of The Birth of Bebop.” In Brightleaf: A Southern Review of Books, 16–17, 1999.
- Conference Papers
  - Brothers, T. ““New Orleans and the African Musical Diaspora,”,” 2007.
Artistic Works & Non-Print Media
- Musical Performances
  - Thomas Brothers: Performances, 1991 - 1993. Conductor. 1993
Teaching & Mentoring
Recent Courses
Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
Presentations & Appearances
Service to the Profession
Service to Duke

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Education, Training, & Certifications

Previous Appointments & Affiliations

In the News

Awards & Honors

Selected Publications

Books

Academic Articles

Book Sections

Conference Papers

Artistic Works & Non-Print Media

Musical Performances

Recent Courses

Presentations & Appearances

Service to the Profession

Service to Duke