Robert Northern aka Brother Ah, iconic jazz musician and DJ, dies at 86
Robert Northern, the jazz artist, French horn master, and bandleader, more commonly known as Brother Ah, has died. He was 86 years old. Northern died in Washington DC on May 31 after a year-long battle with respiratory illness, according to The New York Times. Northern's recording career spanned six decades as he played in-studio with some of the most renowned artists in jazz history, including Quincy Jones, McCoy Tyner, Dizzy Gillespie, Pharoah Sanders and many more. He also played "on some of the most storied orchestral recordings in jazz history, including The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall, John Coltrane’s Africa/Brass and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra," according to the NYT. Northern joined the Metropolitan Opera symphony in the late 1950s, “where, he later recalled, as the only African-American member he was often subjected to racist abuse — reminiscent of what he had endured from white officers in the military."
Northern also played for a decade in Sun Ra’s band, Arkestra, the legendary cosmic jazz group that still performs to this day, albeit without the late Sun Ra himself. Northern played on Arkestra's albums 'Sound Sun Pleasure!!' (1970), 'Pictures of Infinity' (1971), 'The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra' (1965), and more. Apart from his extensive contributions to jazz music as a performer and session musician, Northern also moved into the role of bandleader in the early 1970s. He released his debut solo album, 'Sound Awareness' in 1972, when he took on the stage name Brother Ah. The moniker 'Sound Awareness' referred to the musical belief system that all of the sounds in one's environment are worthy of close attention. According to The Washington Post, he referred to hearing the music in ambient, everyday sounds such as the squeals of children playing and crickets chirping. As Brother Ah, his following album was 'Move Ever Onward' which released in 1975 and on which he played drums, flute, and sitar in addition to French horn.
Northern was also an educator, although he described himself as a pupil as much as an instructor: “Musicians have said to me, ‘Man, where’d you get that beat?’ ” he recalled. “I say, ‘Man, a 5-year-old taught me that beat.’" Northern took a teaching position in 1970 at Dartmouth College, where he worked during jazz trumpeter Don Cherry’s tenure at the university. He would continue to teach in schools and youth programs for decades up until shortly before he died. Northern was also a DJ, who hosted a Washington D.C.-based radio program titled 'The Jazz Collectors' for about twenty years. Northern’s 'Divine Music', a box set compiling recordings from between 1978 and 1985, was released in 2017.