The most successful of the new Broadway composers, Brown started playing piano at age seven and had aspirations on being the next Billy Joel. Later he attended the Eastman School of Music, but dropped out after two years. After briefly holding a teaching job at a university in Florida he was discovered by Daisy Prince (daughter of director Hal) while playing some of his songs at Joe's Pub in NYC. Together they came up with Jason's first show, "Songs for a New World", which opened Off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre. Jason's big break came when Daisy's father asked him to write the music to a musical about the horrific Leo Frank case. He accepted and thus composed "Parade". "Parade" played for 3 months on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, and won Tony’s for Best Score and Best Book. Brown's music is characterized by it's syncopated rhythms, jazz influences, and rich harmonies. Since he is also an accomplished pianist many of his works have a prominent (and difficult) piano part. In "Parade" he uses the Charles Ives technique of layering, which consists of several different musical ideas playing simultaneously. Jason is currently working on a new musical called "The Last Five Years", which will open in 2001 in Illinois.