Clifford Brown

Clifford Brown
Background information
Also known as	"Brownie"
Born	October 30, 1930(1930-10-30)
Origin	Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Died	June 26, 1956(1956-06-26) (aged 25)
Genres	Bebop Hard bop
Occupations	Trumpeter
Instruments	Trumpet
Associated acts	Max Roach Harold Land Lionel Hampton

Clifford Brown (October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956), aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated American jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings. Nonetheless, he had a considerable influence on later jazz trumpet players, including Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Valery Ponomarev, Wynton Marsalis, and many others.^[1]

He won the Down Beat critics' poll for the 'New Star of the Year' in 1954; he was inducted into the Down Beat 'Jazz Hall of Fame' in 1972 in the critics' poll.^[1]

Biography

Brown was born in Wilmington, Delaware. After briefly attending Delaware State University^[2] and Maryland State College, he was injured in a serious car accident in June 1950. During his year-long hospitalization, Dizzy Gillespie visited the younger trumpeter and pushed him to pursue his musical career.^[3] Brown moved into playing music professionally, where he quickly became one of the most highly regarded trumpeters in jazz.^[1]

He was influenced and encouraged by Fats Navarro,^[3] sharing Navarro's virtuosic technique and brilliance of invention. His sound was warm and round, and notably consistent across the full range of the instrument. He could articulate every note, even at the high tempos which seemed to present no difficulty to him; this served to enhance the impression of his speed of execution. His sense of harmony was highly developed, enabling him to deliver bold statements through complex harmonic progressions (chord changes), and embodying the linear, "algebraic" terms of bebop harmony. In addition to his up-tempo prowess, he could express himself deeply in a ballad performance.

He performed with R&B bandleader Chris Powell,^[3] Tadd Dameron, Lionel Hampton, and Art Blakey before forming his own group with Max Roach. The Clifford Brown & Max Roach Quintet was a high water mark of the hard bop style. The group's pianist, Richie Powell (younger brother of Bud), contributed original compositions, as did Brown himself. The partnership of Brown's trumpet with Harold Land's tenor saxophone made for a very strong front line. Teddy Edwards briefly replaced Land before Sonny Rollins took over for the remainder of the group's existence. In their hands the bebop vernacular reached a peak of inventiveness.^[1]

The clean-living Brown has been cited as perhaps breaking the influence of heroin on the jazz world, a model established by Charlie Parker. Clifford stayed away from drugs and was not fond of alcohol.^[1]

In June 1956, Brown and Richie Powell were being driven from Philadelphia to Chicago by Powell's wife Nancy for the band's next appearance. While driving on a rainy night on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, west of Bedford, she lost control of the car and it went off the road. All three were killed in the resulting crash. Brown is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Clifford Brown died on the second anniversary of his marriage to his wife LaRue, which was also LaRue's 22nd birthday.

Legacy

Benny Golson, who had done a stint in Lionel Hampton's band with Brown, wrote "I Remember Clifford" to honour his memory. The piece became a jazz standard, as musicians paid tribute by recording their own interpretations of it.

Helen Merrill, who recorded with Brown in 1954 (Helen Merrill, EmArcy), recorded a tribute album in 1995 entitled Brownie: Homage to Clifford Brown. The album features solos and ensemble work by trumpeters Lew Soloff, Tom Harrell, Wallace Roney, and Roy Hargrove.

Arturo Sandoval's entire second album after fleeing from his native Cuba, titled I Remember Clifford, was likewise a tribute to Brown.

Each year Wilmington, Delaware hosts the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival.

Brownie Speaks, a video documentary, is the culmination of years of research by Wilmington-born jazz pianist Don Glanden, research that has included interviews with Brown's friends, family, contemporaries, and admirers. Glanden's son Brad edited these interviews, along with archival materials and newly shot video footage. The documentary premiered in 2008 at the "Brownie Speaks" Clifford Brown Symposium hosted by The University of the Arts. The three-day symposium featured performances from close friends and bandmates of Brown such as Benny Golson and Lou Donaldson and other prominent artists inspired by Brown such as Marcus Belgrave, Terence Blanchard, and John Fedchock.

Discography

As leader

• Memorial Album (Blue Note, 1953)
• Memorial (Prestige, 1953)
• The Clifford Brown Big Band in Paris (Prestige, 1953)
• The Clifford Brown Sextet in Paris (Prestige, 1953)
• Daahoud (Mainstream Records, 1954)
• Clifford Brown: Jazz Immortal (Pacific Jazz, 1954, Rudy Van Gelder remastering, 2001)
• Brown and Roach Incorporated (EmArcy, 1954)
• Study in Brown (EmArcy, 1955)
• Max Roach and Clifford Brown in Concert (GNP Crescendo, 1955)
• Clifford Brown and Max Roach (EmArcy, 1955)
• Clifford Brown with Strings (EmArcy, 1955)
• Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street (EmArcy, 1956)

As sideman

With Art Blakey

• A Night at Birdland Vol. 1 (Blue Note, 1954)
• A Night at Birdland Vol. 2 (Blue Note, 1954)
• A Night at Birdland Vol. 3 (Blue Note, 1954)

With J.J. Johnson

• The Eminent J. J. Johnson Volume 1 (Blue Note, 1953)

With Helen Merrill

• Helen Merrill (EmArcy, 1954)

With Sarah Vaughan

• Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown (EmArcy, 1954)

With Sonny Rollins

• Sonny Rollins Plus 4 (Prestige, 1956)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} allmusic Biography
2. ^ Charles Carson, PhD (10 July 2010). "Clifford Brown's Philadelphia". Scribd. p. 5. http://www.scribd.com/doc/34152643/Clifford-Brown%E2%80%99s-Philadelphia-pdf. Retrieved 1 June 2011. "As Nick Catalano points out, Brown began making regular trips to Philadelphia while still in high school. These trips grew in frequency after he graduated and entered Delaware State University, however, and it could very well be said that, although his dorm was in Dover, his classroom was in Philadelphia." 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Rosenthal, David, H.. Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music 1955-1965. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195058690. 

Sources

• Nick Catalano, Clifford Brown: The Life and Art of the Legendary Jazz Trumpeter (Oxford University Press, 2001)

External links

• Brownie!
• A Tribute to Brownie
• Clifford Brown on the Hard Bop Homepage
• The Clifford Brown Discography
• 50 Years Later, Unmuted Awe for Clifford Brown
• Clifford Brown Multimedia Directory - Kerouac Alley

Persondata
Name	Brown, Clifford
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 30, 1930
Place of birth
Date of death	June 26, 1956
Place of death