In the early part of May after ETSU’s spring semester commenced I traveled to my favorite city, Washington, D.C.
I was showing “British Bob,” ETSU’s favorite English ex-change student, around the district. Not only did I want to take Bob to all of the regular tourist sites but also I wanted to show him D.C. after the bureaucrats go home.
I was not going take Bob to some dark, dank hole in D.C.’s red-light neighborhood of Du Pont Circle. Instead I took him to see some of the districts finest jazz in one of its finest venues.
We walked down through the Foggy Bottom neighborhood usually associated with the sometimes famous and infamous State Department. I was disappointed to find that one of my favorite jazz venues, One Step Down, had closed since my intern days in Washington.
It happened that I noticed a nice outdoor bar across the street in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood. It was the Melrose Hotel, formerly the Wyndam with a bar inside called The Library.
Bob and I stopped in without knowing the gem we had just happened upon.
I heard what sounded like some good jazz playing over the speakers and it sounded so good that it could have been an album or the radio. But in The Library there sat the great jazz pianist Peter Brush playing some soothing music.

We planted ourselves in to listen to Brush as he played jazz essentials songs such as “Satin Doll” and “Blue in Green.” He brought these tunes to life. You could almost see the legendary Duke Ellington smiling on him.
Being the fervent journalist and always-curious person that I am, I asked Brush for an interview.
Brush has been more than willing to converse with me about music since we met in early May.
Let me introduce you to jazz pianist Peter Brush, as he will appear quite often in coming issues of the East Tennessean.
Brush was brought into the music scene early – his uncle was a trombonist for Glenn Miller and others as well. He provided him with a trombone and jazz records along with some lessons.
Brush seems to have been born to play jazz and has been

found at its center since its glory days. He moved to the Boston area when he was 12 and studied music.
Brush was schooled in music at the Schillinger House of Music, which later became the famous Berklee School of Music. Brush said it emphasized jazz and improvisation that prepared him for his first gigs in Boston.
His young career got another boost as he moved to Long Island at age 17.
In Manhattan, Brush landed a solo piano job in a hotel while he was still in high school. Imagine how stressful it would be to still be in high school and be playing jazz in New York with the genre just starting to make its footprint.
Eventually Brush dropped out of Hofstra University after two years to chase his music career.

He traveled throughout the United States, Canada and Europe from 1957-1965 playing with as he describes them as “small groups, big bands and singers.” As most jazz aficionados will tell you, most of the best jazz was played during those exact years.
These were the days of the greats – Miles, Coltrane, Mingus and Monk.
Brush has played with many jazz musicians during his long career. He worked opposite with jazz legend and friend Art Blakely. Tito Puente, the famous percussionist, and Brush performed together in Long Beach, N.Y. He played with Buddy Morrow who now leads the Glenn Miller Orchestra.
Even if he did not formally play with one of the greats it can be said that he knows most of all them.
He saw John Coltrane play and worked with him. Brush was even friends with legends Gene Krupa, Chick Corea and trumpet master Dizzy Gillespie to name just a few.
It would have been like hanging out with baseball heroes Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Stan Musial in their heyday.
Brush then moved to Spain in the late ’80s. These were the early years of the flamenco jazz movement.
He has helped this movement create a major impact on modern jazz.
But that will be explained in greater detail in a follow-up story in the next issue of the East Tennessean.

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