Ari Brown (born February 1, 1944)^[1] is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and pianist.

Brown grew up in Chicago and attended Wilson College, where he met musicians such as Jack DeJohnette, Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell, and Joseph Jarman.^[2] He played piano in R&B and soul outfits into the 1960s, then switched to saxophone in 1965.^[2] He joined the AACM in 1971, and also played with The Awakening in the early 1970s.^[1] In 1974 he lost several teeth in a car crash, and temporarily switched to piano again until he recovered.^[1] He played sax later in the 1970s with McCoy Tyner, Don Patterson, and Sonny Stitt.^[2] In the 1980s, he started his own quintet, and also worked with Lester Bowie, Von Freeman, Bobby Watson, and Anthony Braxton, and in 1989 he became a member of Kahil El'Zabar's trio.^[1][2] In 1995, he recorded his first album as a leader, titled Ultimate Frontier, and released by Delmark Records.^[2]

• 1995: Ultimate Frontier (Delmark Records)
• 1998: Venus (Delmark)
• 2007: Live at the Green Mill (Delmark)
• 2013: Groove Awakening (Delmark)

With Joshua Abrams' Cloud Script

• Cloud Script (Rogueart, 2020)

With Dee Alexander

• Songs My Mother Loves (Blujazz, 2014)

With The Awakening

• Hear, Sense and Feel (1972)
• Mirage (1973)

With Anthony Braxton

• Anthony Braxton's Charlie Parker Project 1993 (HatART, 1993 [1995])

With the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic

• Collective Creativity (2008)

With Orbert Davis

• Unfinished Memories (1994)
• Priority (2001)
• Blue Notes (2004)

With Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio

• Alika Rising (Sound Aspects, 1990)
• Renaissance of the Resistance (Delmark, 1994)
• Big Cliff (Delmark, 1995)
• Jitterbug Junction (CIMP, 1997)
• Conversations (Delmark, 1999) with Archie Shepp
• Africa N'Da Blues (Delmark, 2000) with Pharoah Sanders
• Live at the River East Art Center (Delmark, 2005)
• Big M: A Tribute to Malachi Favors (Delmark, 2006)
• Follow the Sun (Delmark, 2013)

With Elvin Jones Jazz Machine

• Soul Train (1980)

With the Juba Collective

• Juba Collective (2002)

With Famoudou Don Moye

• Jam for Your Life! (AECO, 1985)

With Natural Information Society

• Simultonality (Eremite, 2017)
• Since Time Is Gravity (Eremite, 2023)

With Malachi Thompson

• Buddy Bolden's Rag (Delmark, 1995)
• Blue Jazz (Delmark, 2003) with Gary Bartz and Billy Harper

With Frank Walton

• Reality (Delmark, 1978)