---

Clarinetist and saxophonist Albert "Pud" Brown died of a heart attack at his home in Algiers, LA on May 27, 1996. He was 79. For the last 20 years of his life, Brown was a strong presence in traditional New Orleans jazz circles, but he learned to play in Shreveport, where he was raised, and later moved to Chicago and Los Angeles. He spent nearly 30 years as a professional jazz musician in Los Angeles, playing with Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Les Brown, Lawrence Welk and others. In 1975, Brown traveled to New Orleans for a brief engagement and decided to make the city his home.