ABOUT

Jonathan Escoto Brown is a versatile artist, composer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist from Birmingham, UK.  

He is one of the founders of Birmingham reggae band, KIOKO. As lead guitarist and composer of many original songs for the band, KIOKO supported UK reggae legends, UB40, on a 40-date tour and collaborated on single, You Don’t Call Any More. Supported by the late Jamal Edwards of SBTV, KIOKO’s compositions have played on BBC Radio 1, BBC 1 XTRA and BBC Radio 2. Collaborations have included, The Wailers, the late, great Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Jimmy Cliff, Toots and The Maytals, The Selecter and The Beat.

Jonathan graduated from Leeds College of Music with a First-Class Honors in Jazz and has since established himself as a guitarist within the Jazz and Reggae scenes. Career highlights include performing at the 41st Havana International Jazz Festival with Grammy award-winning percussionist, Lekan Babaloa and composing for and performing in a finale performance at the Royal Albert Hall’s ‘Elgar Room’ as part of the PROMS PLUS LATE SESSIONS broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Recent performance work includes RSC production, Twelfth Night, and a solo performance for London singer songwriter, Murkage Dave.

In the last four years, Jonathan has established himself as a sought-after film composer, scoring multiple award-winning shorts, including festival hit, DOG RUN, for which he received a nomination for the Crystal Pine Award for Best Original Score for Short Film at the International Sound and Film Music Festival. Recent credits include CODE/SWITCH, selected at the 33rd Raindance Film Festival. Forthcoming films include, TO DISAPPEAR SUDDENLY, produced by Split Second Films, and THE NET, a UK-Philippines co-production funded by the Film Development Council of the Philippines and the British Council.

Drawing on his Filipino heritage, Jonathan’s recent work explores the sounds of South East Asia. His versatility and unique voice as a composer has leant itself well to creating compositions that pay homage to both classical and fusion styles found in South East Asia.