Artist:Clifford Brown
Song:Memories of You
Album:Ultimate Clifford Brown
Here is another of my Jazz for Beginners series complete with a live video clip and an affordable comp intended for beginners. Though trumpeter Clifford Brown died in 1956 at age 25, he has had a lasting impact on jazz and is considered an all time great despite his brief career. He was born Oct. 30, 1930 in Wilmington, DE. His father played trumpet. He tried to organize his four sons into a vocal group. But Brown was fascinated by his dad's shiny trumpet and started blowing. At age 13, Brown's dad bought him a trumpet and had him take lessons. He was in a jazz band in high school that made trips to Philadelphia. Though Brown attended college after graduating from high school, he was more interested in jazz. After being injured in a June 1950 car crash, Dizzy Gillespie visited Brown in the hospital and encouraged him to start a music career. Brown's main influence was bebop trumpeter Fats Navarro. He moved to New York and played with Art Blakey and J.J. Johnson before forming a band with drummer Max Roach. He was a member of Blakey's first band with Lou Donaldson, Horace Silver and Curley Russell. At the time, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker were among Brown's admirers. Roach had moved to Los Angeles and Brown followed him. The original Brown/Roach band was formed in 1954 with Harold Land on tenor sax, Richie Powell (Bud Powell's brother) on piano and George Morrow on bass and signed with Mercury's jazz label EmArcy. Most of Brown's recordings were on EmArcy. Brown alternated recording with Roach and recording as a leader of his own band. He also recorded with singers Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. And he also recorded the 1955 album Clifford Brown with Strings. Of course this was influenced by Charlie Parker's album with strings. Record companies thought an album with strings would reach a wider audience when all it really did was annoy the established jazz fanbase. I guess Brown just went along with it because if it was OK with Parker, it's OK with him. The album was produced by EmArcy house producer Bob Shad. The string arrangements were by Neal Hefti who was working with Count Basie at the time. The band was Brown's usual band of Powell, Roach and Morrow plus guitarist Barry Galbraith. The songs are all standards including the 1930 Eubie Blake song Memories of You. This song was first recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1930. You can get it on this Verve comp CD compiled by trumpeter Nicholas Payton. So Brown was just getting started when on June 26, 1956, Brown and Powell were driving to a gig in Chicago. Powell's wife drove and the guys slept in the back. It was raining and she lost control on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and that was it. Clifford Brown died at age 25. Brown didn't drink, smoke or take drugs. So it's likely he would have lived a long life. But his music still sounds great. I listen to him all the time and so should you. Here's Clifford Brown performing Lady Be Good and Memories of You on the TV show Soupy's On hosted by Soupy Sales. This is the only live video clip of Clifford Brown.
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