Elise Brown

Elise Brown is a multi-instrumentalist and educator based in Jamaica Plain. By day, they teach high school history — by night, they play a combination of vocals, guitar, ukulele, bass, and harmonica in the Goddamn Brass Band, a project of the Fork & Shoe Theatre Cooperative. Elise has been giving private harmonica lessons to newcomers for over a decade, and as a teacher, they have been praised for their infectious enthusiasm and their ability to make complex ideas feel accessible and exciting. In addition to playing in GDBB, Elise also plays in Harpageddon (Annie Raines’ harmonica ensemble at Passim), frequently sits in with local folk-rock duo Think Twice, and hangs out at blues, R&B, and jazz jams across Greater Boston.

Elise has been playing diatonic harmonica (“blues harp”) since they were a teenager in an Oregon suburb. Initially inspired by Bob Dylan, they went down the rabbit hole of his influences and eventually became an acolyte of Little Walter, James Cotton, Sonny Terry, and Paul Butterfield, as well as more recent players such as Indiara Sfair and Christelle Berthon. At Wellesley College, where Elise double-majored in political science and music, they were the jazz program’s first (and so far, only) blues harp player! Since then, they’ve taken lessons and workshops from harp innovators including Catriona Sturton, Jason Ricci, Annie Raines, Ronnie Shellist, and Shane Sager, and they’re thrilled that at Passim, they get to share some of that wealth of knowledge with new players. Elise is also passionate about building solidarity among fellow LGBTQ+ musicians, and they have become one of the loudest voices in the harmonica community speaking out against queerphobia and transphobia.