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Clifford Brown
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Clifford Brown's death in a car accident at the age of 25 was one of the great tragedies in jazz history. Already ranking with Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis as one of the top trumpeters in jazz, Brownie was still improving in 1956. Plus he was a clean liver and was not even driving; the up-and-coming pianist Richie Powell and his wife (who was driving) ... perished in the crash. Clifford Brown accomplished a great deal in the short time he had. He started on trumpet when he was 15, and by 1948 was playing regularly in Philadelphia. Fats Navarro, who was his main influence, encouraged Brown, as did Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
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Clifford Brown was a son of Wilmington, Delaware. After briefly attending the University of Delaware and Maryland State College, he quickly starting playing music professionally, and, without question, became one of the most highly regarded trumpeters on the modern jazz scene. Maryland State College had a good music department as well as a 16-17 piece band. So Brown was able to learn a lot both about playing and arranging. However, this came to an abrupt end in June 1950 when, on his way home from a gig, he was involved in the first of the three automobile accidents which he experienced (the last of which was to prove so tragically fatal).
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Clifford Brown had a fat warm tone, a bop-ish style quite reminiscent of the equally ill-fated Fats Navarro, and a mature improvising approach; he was as inventive on melodic ballads as he was on rapid jams. Amazingly enough, a filmed appearance of him playing two songs in 1955 on a Soupy Sales variety show turned up after being lost for 40 years, the only known footage of the great trumpeter. Fortunately, virtually all of his recordings are currently available, including his Prestige dates (in the OJC series), his work for Blue Note and Pacific Jazz (on a four-CD set), and his many Emarcy sessions (reissued on a magnificent ten-disc set). But the one to pick up first is Columbia\'s The Beginning and the End, which has Brown\'s first and last recordings. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide', 'Clifford Brown\'s death in a car accident at the age of 25 was one of the great tragedies in jazz history. Already ranking with Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis as one of the top trumpeters in jazz,...');">Expand [+]
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Until his life was cut short by a car crash, at the age of twenty-five, Clifford Brown had established himself as the most potent trumpeter in jazz since Dizzy Gillespie. Equally influenced by Fats Navarro and Gillespie, Brown possessed both a remarkable technique for high-speed playing, with every note perfectly placed and formed, and ... a beautiful lyrical ballad style. He was also a gifted composer, and many of his pieces became standards, including Daahoud, and Joy Spring. His creative life was sandwiched between two traffic accidents - the first in 1950, which took him months to recover, and the second, fatal, one in June 1956. He began his professional career in Philadelphia, recording with Chris Powell, and arranger Tadd Dameron. He gained international recognition in 1953, when he toured to France with Lionel Hampton and made a set of recordings under his own name in Paris.
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In terms of wasted potential, the premature death of Clifford Brown in a car crash in 1956 still stands as one of jazz' biggest tragedies. It's not only the fact that his potential seemed to keep expanding until he died at the age of 25, but ... the sheer fact that he allegedly was not a walking drug/alcohol-problem, unlike many of his contemporaries and predecessors, like Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Chet Baker and Fats Navarro. The latter's lively style also proved to be the main influence on Brown - along with the acrobatics of Dizzy Gillespie. Like Navarro, who found his partner in pianist Tadd Dameron and recorded his best sessions with him, Brown would eventually find his soul brother in Max Roach in 1954 - a partnership that continued until his life ended. Since he only started recording in 1952, this implies his commanding legacy was based on a mere four years of recording music. Compare that to the multiple-decade careers of the more fortunate jazz musicians (Sonny Rollins is still playing, for instance) and you'll realize that the brief career of Brown must've been something special.
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Clifford Brown was born October 30, 1930 in Wilmington, Delaware. As a young high school student Brown began playing trumpet and within a very short time was active in college and other youth bands. By his late teens he had attracted the favourable attention of leading jazzmen, including fellow trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Fats Navarro. At the end of the 40s he was studying music at Maryland University and in 1952, following recovery from a serious road accident, he made his first records with Chris Powell and Tadd Dameron. In the autumn of 1953 he was a member of the big band Lionel Hampton took to Europe. Liberally filled with precocious talent, this band attracted considerable attention during its tour.
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Clifford Brown