Roger Browne was born in Blackpool. He is a raconteur, writer, director, and pianist. He has appeared in jazz clubs and jazz festivals in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Germany, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and across North America and Canada, and provided piano accompaniment for many national and international legends such as Stephane Grappelli, Marion Montgomery, Scott Hamilton, Bud Freeman, Humphrey Lyttleton, George Melly, George Chisholm, Kenny Baker and many more.

Roger is an avid student of "The Great American Songbook" and has directed over 100 musical shows and presented more than 1,500 entertaining talks, over the last ten years, on various aspects of American popular music, primarily from the early part of the Twentieth Century.

His audience has been, mainly Universities of The Third Age, in all corners of the UK

All his talks are illustrated with live piano playing.

Each talk contains fascinating facts, hilarious anecdotes, and live piano playing.

Facts, Fun, and Music

Not Father O’Malley
The hilarious stories of a Roman Catholic childhood in post war Salford, the music that inspired a budding, self-taught jazz pianist and the challenges presented by supporting the “wrong” football team.

The Great American Songbook
The fascinating lives of Gershwin, Kern, Porter, Rodgers, Berlin, Carmichael, Fats Waller and beyond – and their wonderful music. The greatest popular music of the twentieth century and its roots in blues, ragtime, music hall etc.

New Orleans to New York
How Jazz influenced musical theatre and how musical theatre influenced jazz musicians. Live samples of the results. Two genres with different roots, producing, music that has remained popular for 100 years.

The Kings Tiger Rag
The strange story of the role that King George V played in bringing Jazz to Britain in 1919 with The Original Dixieland Jazz Band. How society in Britain was never to be the same again.

Jerome Kern
The story of a great composer, how “Showboat” changed Musical Theatre for ever, his love of Britain and British literature, plus, of course, his fabulous music. Then there was the poker match that provided 30 years of wonderful music

The Story of Tin Pan Alley
The influence that Jewish immigrants, to the USA, fleeing persecution and pogroms in Central and Eastern Europe, had in creating and promoting decades of popular American music in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Cole Porter
His huge inherited wealth, his extravagant, at times, shocking, lifestyle. His many loves, his marriage of convenience, the riding accident that changed his life, his wonderful lyrics and timeless music.

Scott Joplin
The King of Ragtime - Why this brilliant, but tragic, ragtime composer died penniless, and why one of his operatic masterpieces was never performed in his lifetime. Includes live playing of many of his stunning rags.

The Golden Age of Radio
Memories from “Take it From Here” to “Round the Horne” to “Letter From America” to “Journey into Space”, “Family Favourites”, “In Town Tonight”, “Down Your Way”, “Music While You Work” “Dick Barton – Special Agent” many, many others, and how Radio enriched our post war lives.

Irving Berlin
An incredible tale of Rags to Riches. A Russian born composer who wrote “God Bless America”. A Jewish composer who wrote “White Christmas” and “Easter Parade”. Berlin wrote hundreds of huge hits, all summed up by “There’s no Business Like Show Business”

Sacred and Secular
On the face of it, there is little in common between music heard in churches on a Sunday morning and music performed in low down dives on a Saturday night. Prepare to be surprised when you examine the roots of American popular music.

George and Ira Gershwin
Brothers George and Ira were born in New York, but their grandfather came from Odesa which was then in Ukraine. George bridged the gap between classical and popular music. In fact, George’s music and Ira’s words were to provide us with hundreds of popular songs and one of the greatest American operas, “Porgy and Bess”.
This is the story of their life and their phenomenal contribution to American music.

Al – Perry - Bing
The life stories and iconic music of Al Jolson, Perry Como, and Bing Crosby, three of the most popular singers in the history of popular music. For this presentation, I am joined by vocalist Roy Chappell, former singer with The Sid Phillips Band, icons of early British Jazz.

The Poets of Broadway
The brilliant lyricists of popular American music of the early Twentieth Century. Their work was often overshadowed by the composers who provided the tunes, but their contribution to the genre was immense. Hear about Lorenz Hart, Ira Gershwin, Dorothy Fields,

Oscar Hammerstein, Johnny Mercer, Sammy Khan, and many others.
The History of Jazz Piano - From Blues to Ragtime to Boogie to Stride to Bee Bop, Avant Garde and beyond. Its roots and its constant evolution. How jazz musicians were influenced by other genres of music, and, in turn, inspired classical musicians

Harry Warren – His Many Hits
When a composer is credited with hits such as “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” “Lullaby of Broadway”, “You’ll Never Know” “The More I see you”, his success is obvious. This is the story of his brilliant songwriting, his many collaborators and his fabulous songs.

“Show Boat” – Musical Theatre RedefinedWhen Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein 11 collaborated to create this hard hitting musical masterpiece, “Show Boat”, they changed musical theatre forever. Broadway would never be the same again after the opening night in 1927. Hear the amazing story of “The Cotton Blossom” and heard its wonderful music with timeless hits such as “Ol’ Man River”, “Make Believe”, “Can’t Help Lovin Dat Man”

As the pianist, since 1995, with internationally renowned, Mart Rodger Manchester Jazz,Roger has performed on several, consecutive Repositioning Cruises, from the Caribbean to The Med on SUNBIRD and other Thomson vessels