Clifford Brown Sextet – August 28 1953
Leonard Feather: Clifford Brown – Memorial Album – BLP 1526 – July 1956
It seems that in jazz the good, especially if they play trumpet, die young. Lost in their twenties or early thirties were Bix Beiderbecke, Bunny Berigan, Freddie Webster, Sonny Berman, Fats Navarro. When Clifford Brown’s automobile skidded off the highway in the small hours of June 26, 1956 he was just four months short of his twenty-sixth birthday. The man most musicians considered the greatest new trumpet talent of the new generation was killed outright.
It was Blue Note that had given Brownie his initial glimpse of fame by recording his first sessions only three years ago; by an ironic coincidence it was en route to another Blue Note, a night club in Chicago by the same name, that his career was cut short. Musicians all over the world mourned a loss that was all the more tragic in that it had taken the life of a man who, unlike so many artists of popular fiction and social fact, had lived cleanly and honorably, had remained studious and ambitious, had never done anything physically to destroy himself.
Combined on this record are the two sessions, originally released separately on ten inch LPs, that did so much to make Brownie a name to be reckoned with in jazz. It might be appropriate here to recall the biographical details of his brief span. Born Oct. 30, 1930, in Wilmington, Del., he received his first trumpet from his father on entering senior high school in 1945 and joined the school band shortly afterward. It was not until a year or so later that the mysterious world of jazz chord changes and improvisation began to shed its veil for Brownie. A talented musician and jazz enthusiast named Robert Lowery was credited by Brownie for the unveiling.
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| Clifford Brown Photo by Francis Wolff |
The teen-aged trumpeter began playing gigs in Philadelphia on graduating in 1948. That same year, he entered Delaware State College on a music scholarship, but there was one slight snag: the college happened to be momentarily short of a music department.
Brownie remained there a year anyway, majoring in mathematics, and taking up a little spare time by playing some Philadelphia dates with such preeminent bop figures as Kenny Dorham, Max Roach, J. J. Johnson and Fats Navarro. He acquired considerable inspiration and encouragement from Navarro, who was greatly impressed with the youngster's potentialities.
After the year at Delaware State, Brownie had a chance to enter a college that did boast a good music department, namely Maryland State. They also had a good 16-piece band, and he learned a lot about both playing and arranging until one evil evening in June 1950, when, on his way home from a gig, he was involved in the first of three automobile accidents, the last of which was to prove fatal.
For a whole year in 1950-51, Clifford Brown had plenty of opportunity for contemplation but precious little for improving his lip. It took just about a year, plus some verbal encouragement from Dizzy Gillespie, to set him back on the path from which he had been so rudely sideswiped.
He had his own group in Philly for a while, then joined the Chris Powell combo, with which he was working at Cafe Society when the date with too Donaldson was cut. There followed a stint with Tadd Dameron in Atlantic City, after which he joined Lionel Hampton, touring Europe with him in the fall of 1953. In 1954 Brownie won the Down Beat critics' poll as the new star of the year. Moving out to California, he formed an alliance with Max Roach that was to last until death broke up the team.
On the first side of the present record Brownie is heard in the company of Gigi Gryce, alto sax and flute, a colleague in the Hampton band at that time; Charlie Rouse, 32-year-old Washingtonian whose tenor sax was heard in the bands of Billy Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington; John Lewis and Percy Heath of MJQ fame, and the ubiquitous, euphonious Mr. Blakey at the batterie.
A briskly performed original by Gigi Gryce, Hymn Of The Orient, opens the side. The second and third choruses of this minor-key work illustrate strikingly Brownie's capacity for creating long, flowing phrases and executing them impeccably. This passage, 65 seconds long, was to us a major highlight of the entire LP. Note also the solid underlining of Percy Heath and the fine contribution, both in solos and sectional work, of Art Blakey on this item.
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| Gigi Gryce and Clifford Brown Photo by Francis Wolff |
An immediate contrast is offered by the lovely standard tune Easy Living, showing Brownie at his most elegant
in the ballad mood. The Lewis keyboard provides a fragile, sensitive introduction before the sextet outlines Brownie’s moderately paced Minor Mood. This paves the way for the racehorse pace of Cherokee. The Ray Noble and His Orchestra standard, soaring off at a wild tempo, provides an energetic challenge to Brownie, who is later spelled by Blakey in some fours. The side ends with Wail Bait, a melodic-style bop theme, which has a fine chorus split between Gigi and John Lewis and some of Brownie‘s most eloquent thoughts in a full chorus, plus 16 bars of Charlie Rouse followed by some neatly-etched ensemble playing.
Down Beat April 7 1954 Volume 21 Issue 7 - Feature - Nat Hentoff
New York — The word among musicians both here and in Europe is that a new Dizzy Gillespie has arrived. No hornman in several years has so stirred the interest and enthusiasm of his fellow jazzmen as Clifford Brown. And as a result of his recent records on Blue Note and Prestige, the jazz listening public also is becoming aware of a fresh, authoritative trumpet voice. Clifford, 23, was born in Wilmington, Del.
“My father played trumpet and violin and piano for his own amusement,” Brown recalls, “and from the earliest time I can remember it was the trumpet that fascinated me. Then I was too little to reach it, I’d climb up to where it was, and I kept on knocking it down. So when I was 13, my father finally bought me one— and only because of that fascination for the horn itself. Otherwise I had no noticeable interest in music as such at that time.
“That developed later through experience with the junior high school band and a jazz group that Robert Lowery, who used to be with several big bands, organized to stimulate interest in jazz among the younger musicians in town. Lowery taught me a lot and gave me big band experience in his own group during summer vacation.”
Benny Was Late
One night in 1949, Dizzy played a date in Wilmington, and one of his trumpet players, Benny Harris, was late. Clifford got a chance to sit in for 45 minutes, and Dizzy encouraged the youngster to go on with jazz.
After high school graduation, Clifford studied mathematics at Delaware State college and then switched next year to Maryland State college on a music scholarship. There they had a good 15-piece band with which he gained experience.
While at Maryland State, Clifford played as a member of the house band at jazz concerts in Philadelphia a couple of times a month with innovators like J. J. Johnson, Max Roach, Ernie Henry, and Fats Navarro.
After recovering from a 1950 auto crash, Clifford picked up trumpet gigs, one with Charlie Parker.
Again, It's Benny
"Benny Harris was the cause of that one, too," Brown said. "He left Bird shortly after the engagement began so I worked in his place for a week. Bird helped my morale a great deal. One night he took me into a corner and said, "I don't believe it. I hear what you're saying, but I don't believe it.'”
After Bird, Clifford worked with Chris Powell for a year and a half. A stay with Tadd Dameron in Atlantic City, N. J., followed. Lionel Hampton heard him there and added him to his band along with altoist Gigi Gryce who was also with Dameron.
Clifford stayed with Lionel from July until November, 1953, during the European tour, recorded several sides with both Swedish and French musicians. Brown had made his first modern jazz sides earlier on a Lou Donaldson date for Blue Note while he was still with Powell. He also had recorded for Prestige with Dameron.
Clifford now is based in New York, working with Art Blakey and hoping to resume studying soon. "But I don't know when—there's always the financial angle," he said. "The financial angle is a tough one. There are always a lot of guys who sound very promising, but what happens to them depends a great deal on economics. A musician gets married, has a couple of kids and then he has to get another job because he has to look for that money.
"But there certainly are many talented guys around. There's Joe Gordon, for example, the wailingest unheard-of trumpet player you ever came across. And there are several more. Also the whole atmosphere is getting healthier and healthier. At one time you weren't anywhere if you weren't hung on something, but now the younger guys frown on anyone who goofs. There's a different feeling now; you can notice how things are clearing up."
-nat
Leonard Feather: Clifford Brown – Brownie Eyes Liner Notes – BNLA-267-G 1974
It was Blue Note Records that had given Brownie his initial glimpse of fame by recording his first session as a leader, August 28, 1953; by an ironic coincidence it was enroute to another Blue Note, a night club in Chicago by the same name, that his career was cut short. Musicians all over the world mourned a loss that was all the more tragic in that it had taken the life of a man who, unlike so many artists of popular fiction and social fact, had lived cleanly and honorably, had remained studious and ambitious, had never done anything physically to destroy himself.
Brownie's career as a name jazzman lasted only two or three years; prior to that, his artistry was in the formative stage and was restricted by various setbacks. Born October 30, 1930 in Wilmington, Del., he received his first trumpet from his father on entering senior high school in 1945 and joined the school band shortly afterward.
It wasn't until a year or so later that the mysterious world of jazz chord changes and improvisation began to shed its veil for him. Brownie credited a talented musician and jazz enthusiast named Robert Lowery for the unveiling.
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| Percy Heath and Art Blakey Photo by Francis Wolff |
Brownie next had a chance to enter a college that did boast a good music department, Maryland State. Playing in and arranging for its 16-piece band, he was making good headway until one ominous evening in June 1950 when, on his way home from a gig, he was involved in the first of three automobile accidents, the last of which would prove fatal.
From that time until mid-1951, Brownie had plenty of opportunity for contemplation, but very little time for improving his embouchure or technique. After the year's hiatus, with the help of some verbal encouragement from Dizzy Gillespie, he resumed his activities, leading his own group for a while in Philadelphia.
Next came a stint with the Chris Powell rhythm and blues combo, with which he was working when some of the tracks in this album (Brownie Speaks, Bella Rosa and De-Dah) were taped June 9, 1953 at a quintet date under the direction of alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson.
Brownie worked next with Tadd Dameron in Atlantic City, after which he joined the Lionel Hampton orchestra, touring Europe with him in the fall of 1953. In 1954 he won the Down Beat Critics' Poll as New Star of the Year. By that time he had established himself as a combo leader on records, cutting his first sextet date for Blue Note.
The first four tracks heard here are all products of that date, for which Clifford's colleagues were Gigi Gryce on alto sax and flute; Charlie Rouse on tenor; John Lewis on piano; Percy Heath on bass; and Art Blakey on drums.
Gigi Gryce's Hymn of the Orient is a minor mode, briskly played swinger in which Brownie takes two magnificent choruses. Spitting out eighth notes with the accuracy of a key punch machine, he creates long, flowing phrases and executes them with an impeccable authority that marked his work throughout his recording career.
Rouse and Gryce split a chorus; John Lewis is heard in a typically sedate groove, with sympathetic fills by Blakey. A trade of fours between Brownie and Blakey precedes the rideout.
Clifford breathes immediate, vibrant life into the melody of Easy Living. Only a chorus and a half long, this is a masterpiece of construction and possibly his finest ballad interpretation.
Cherokee was always the beboppers' great challenge, partly because of the breakneck tempo at which it was usually played, and partly because of the harmonic demands inherent in the bridge. Charlie Parker in his Ko Ko version, set a standard that made it hard for others to follow, but Brownie is unfazed as he takes off at a wild clip. Again there is an energetic series of four bar exchanges with Blakey.
Wail Bait, a composition by the then 20-year-old Quincy Jones, offers the gentle kind of jazz melody associated in those days with a handful of writers among whom Quincy already was preéminent. There is an excellent chorus split by Lewis and Gryce, the latter sounding like a junior league Bird; then some of Brownie's most eloquent thoughts are extended over a full chorus. A Charlie Rouse solo and some neatly etched ensemble playing take up the balance of the track.
Michael Cuscuna: Clifford Brown – More Memorable Tracks Liner Notes BNJ-61001 1984 (Also reproduced as part of BST 84428: Clifford Brown – Alternate Takes 1984)
Brownie's first date as a leader was a sextet affair with arrangements by Quincy Jones and Gigi Gryce. On Jones' Wait Bait, the trumpeter is the only soloist to take a full chorus. On this alternate, Brown's solo seems to project a clarion quality and a more overall cohesive thread than on the master, although he does not take as many chances. Quincy's other contribution is the beautiful ballad Brownie Eyes with Gryce on flute for the ensembles and on alto for his half chorus solo. Brown takes a lyrical half chorus in double time.
Cherokee is a unique item in Clifford's legacy. It seems to have a sense of abandon and free association that departs from the calm continuum that characterized his personality and playing style. This alternate is even wilder than the master. At one point, Brown and Lewis lay out for two rounds of four bars that were supposed to be trumpet-drum exchanges, but Heath and Blakey apparently forgot the arrangement. The result of this mistake is transfixing. The two takes of Cherokee played one after the other seemed to comprise one continuous performance.
The alternate take of Hymn Of The Orient, like Carvin' The Rock from the first session, was done at the end of the session as a final attempt at the tune. Clifford's creative and rhythmic flow are better on this unissued performance. His construction is more unified and thought provoking. And indeed, the second 8 bars of his first chorus are a gem! Many musicans and writers have claimed that every note Brownie played was of value and should be heard. This album serves to reinforce that claim.
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| Photo by Francis Wolff |
Bob Blumenthal – Clifford Brown Memorial Album RVG CD Reissue Liner Notes 2001
Brown, Heath and Jones were back in the studio two days later with Tadd Dameron's Nonet for Prestige, while Brown and Heath also participated in J.J. Johnson's first Blue Note session (Contained on The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 1 in the RVG Series) on June 22. It was at this last session that Alfred Lion offered the trumpeter a date of his own, which was held on August 28. By that time, Brown had become a member of Lionel Hampton's orchestra. He included another Hampton sideman, Gigi Gryce, on alto sax and flute, as well as Charlie Rouse on tenor. Heath was again on bass, together with one of his partners in the recently-formed Modern Jazz Quartet, pianist John Lewis. The drummer was Art Blakey, who would feature Brown on the memorable A Night at Birdland recordings for the label six months later.
The added orchestral potential of a sextet is quickly displayed on "Wail Bait," the first of two compositions by one of Brown's mates in the Hampton trumpet section, Quincy Jones. Another obvious difference from the previous session is the gentler, more thematically sustained support from Lewis's piano, The master, cut after the alternate, has stronger solos all around as Lewis and Gryce split a chorus, Brown gets one to himself (launched by an ensemble interlude) and Rouse follows on the last 16 bars of the structure. Brown's sound and execution are even more assured than on the previous date.
"Hymn Of The Orient" was tackled next, and a master take resulted, with the alternate produced (like the second "Carvin' the Rock" alternate) at the conclusion of the session. Brown is brilliant, especially when the saxophones enter with the cyclical figure on the second chorus; then Rouse charges forward, yielding to a more ethereal Gryce at the bridge. Lewis plays a typically sly chorus, followed by one where Brown and Blakey converse amicably. The alternate is notable for Heath's more prominent bowing behind the piano introduction and a superior Rouse solo.
"Brownie Eyes" is a beautiful Quincy Jones ballad that finds Gryce on flute in the ensemble. Brown had a gift for balancing tenderness and self-assurance that made him one of the most complete ballad players. He does some impressive double-timing on the second chorus, after Gryce has played an inventive 16 bars on alto.
"Cherokee" was among Brown's favorite chord sequences, one he would revisit while in Paris under the title "Brown Skin" with an orchestra under Gryce's leadership, as well as on a February 1955 recording by the quintet he co-led with Max Roach. Of the two versions here, the master take (cut after the alternate) is faster and altogether more inventive, with Blakey obviously recognizing a soulmate in the confident young trumpeter. Their exchanges take the music right to the boiling point before Brown settles back into the familiar Ray Noble melody on the final half-chorus.
Flute and bowed bass set up "Easy Living," which Brown turns into one of the all-time great ballad performances. For all his energy and imagination, he shows great respect for the melody, allowing key notes to glow. His repetition of the "so in love" phrase during the performance's final four bars is the perfect summation.
"Minor Mood" is Brown's composition, with an uncommon melody on altered blues changes after Lewis's introduction. The assertive attitude of the trumpet solo and in Blakey's support is contrasted effectively by Lewis's more considered camping, which sustains its interesting counterlines behind Gryce and Rouse (in the latter's most characteristic solo of the date). As usual, Lewis gets a lot of meaning out of a few notes before the ensemble concludes with new melodic material.
The final two years of Brown's abbreviated career were spent in partnership with Max Roach and produced his most famous recordings, yet the present performances are in no way inferior. On the contrary, they announced the musician Blue Note justifiably hailed when the sextet session was first released as a New Star on the Horizon a star that unfortunately shone all too briefly.
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| Photo by Francis Wolff |
Down Beat April 7 1954 Volume 21 Issue 7
The first LP on which Brownie gets star billing, and the 23-year old proves he merits the marquee lights. His imagination, tone, and beat are equally full and fluid at quicksilver tempos (Cherokee), ballads (Easy Living), and introspective originals (Minor Mood, Brownie Eyes). John Lewis, Art Blakey, and Percy Heath are a superlative rhythm section and Gigi Gryce’s flute is quite effective in the background scorings.
Rating would have hit the top except for the fact that Gigi's alto and Charlie Rouse's tenor aren't up to Brown's exciting consistency. Quincy Jones wrote Bait and the lyrical Eyes; the daedal Orient is by Gryce; and Minor Mood is by Mr. Brown. Good, clean recording. Brownie has really arrived; now let's hope he can get some steady gigs. (Blue Note 5032)
Ira Gitler: The Complete Blue Note And Pacific Jazz Recordings of Clifford Brown – Mosaic Records – MR5-104
This is Clifford's first date completely under his own name and it was done either at the time he was with Dameron or in the transition period of joining the Hampton orchestra. Gigi Gryce was with him in both situations and is present on this date with alto saxophone, flute and one composition. Charlie Rouse, who had played with Dameron in the '40s and would join Monk in '59, replaces Heath on tenor. Lewis and Percy Heath are back but their MJQ-mate, Clarke, is supplanted by Blakey.
Quincy Jones, Brownie's soon-to-be-associate in the Hampton trumpet section, brought in Wail Bait, a tune that James Moody had recorded in 1952. This is an alternate and the fourth of the unissued tracks in this boxed set. There's a Twisted rhythmic intro and Lewis commences the soloing after the fetching theme. Gryce's light-toned alto and Brownie's thoughtful trumpet are separated by an interlude. Again, note Clifford's bridge crossings. Rouse has a half-chorus in his side-saddle style. Quincy's ensemble sound has a lovely airy quality not unlike some of the stuff being done in Boston in that period by Charlie Mariano and Herb Pomeroy, based on the Miles Davis nonet. Quincy had studied in Beantown for two years at Schillinger House (later the Berklee School of Music) from 1951.
Everyone retains the beautiful spirit on the master take of Bait while polishing their improvisations from the previous track. Blakey does some of his patented ' 'knocking " commentary. His "knocks" however, are a boost. Note the difference in John Lewis' approach to bridge under Clifford on these two takes.
Gryce's Hymn Of The Orient (master take), first recorded by Stan Getz at the end of '52, is a haunting song well suited to Brownie. To quote Leonard Feather from his notes to Blue Note 1526: "The second and third choruses of this minor-key work illustrate strikingly Brownie's capacity for creating long, knowing phrases and executing them impeccably. This passage, 65 seconds long, was to us a major highlight of the entire LP."
Rouse and Gryce split a chorus and Lewis is heard from before Brown and Blakey exchange thoughts. Clifford begins with Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho.
Brownie Eyes by Quincy Jones, is some gorgeous ballad blowing by the title rolist with Gryce's flute supplying background atmosphere. The opening phrases of the melody line bear a kinship with Dameron's Soultrane, done by Tadd and Coltrane in 1956. Gigi has a halt-chorus on alto before Brownie retums with Gigi once again picking up the flute.
The fifth of the unissued tracks is an alternate of Cherokee which, from the time Charlie Parker aggrandized it, became a testing ground for heavyweights. After a little horn intro, Brownie is burning from the jump as Lewis states Ray Noble's original melody in the background.
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| Charlie Rouse, Clifford Brown, Gigi Gryce Photo by Francis Wolff |
Cherokee (master take) finds Brownie spitting out notes with controlled abandon. He really has it together this time and the chases with Blakey are extremely spirited. The He's A Dirty Robber quote is retained from the first take.
Gryce's flute and Heath's bowed bass lead into Brownie's expressive rendition of Easy Living with Gigi coming back to interlace his silver sound with Brownie's golden tones at the close. Minor Mood is a stately, minor-key theme Brown who begins the solos with a mixture of serpentine lines and declamatory blues phrases. Gryce's alto is the model of soulful clarity and Rouse blends his notes plaintively, blending in some of his patented double-time runs. Lewis, in his unhurried manner, has the last say before Blakey brings the ensemble back.
The unissued alternate of Hymn Of The Orient has Brownie using a n Epistrophy-like phrase in his solo and quoting Joshua Fit The Battle, but not in the exchanges with Blakey. Lewis is Bud Powell-bluesy in his second eight and Monkish in his last eight.
Session Information
Clifford Brown, trumpet; Gigi Gryce, alto sax, flute; Charlie Rouse, tenor sax; John Lewis, piano; Percy Heath, bass; Art Blakey, drums.
Audio-Video Studios, NYC, August 28, 1953
BN524-0 tk.1, Wail Bait (alt)
BN524-2 tk.3, Wail Bait, Blue Note BLP 5032, BLP 1526, BN-LA267-G
BN525-1 tk.9, Hymn Of The Orient, Blue Note 45-1648, BLP 5032, BLP 1526, BN-LA267-G
BN526-1 tk.13, Brownie Eyes, Blue Note BLP 5032, BN-LA267-G
BN527-0 tk.18, Cherokee (alt)
BN527-1 tk.21, Cherokee, Blue Note BLP 5032, BLP 1526, BST 89903, BN-LA267-G, BST2 84429
BN528-0 tk.23, Easy Living, Blue Note 45-1648, BLP 5032, BLP 1526, BLP 1001, BN-LA267-G
BN529-0 tk.24, Minor Mood, Blue Note BLP 5032, BLP 1526
BN525-3 tk.26, Hymn Of The Orient (alt)
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