Trumpeter Clifford Brown started his recording career with Philadelphia based R&B band Chris Powell’s Blue Flames –see Classics 5065 – but by the time of these recording he was firmly established as a leading bebop trumpeter. He died, aged just 25, in a car crash on 52th June 1956, but his reputation and influence reaches down through the years right up to current New Orleans maestro Wynton Marsalis. ‘Brownie’ himself was influenced by Fats Navarro and demonstrates a very precise and accurate style, hitting the high notes cleanly and distinctly, no matter what the tempo. These sides feature some of the top jazz musicians of the time: people like Art Farmer, Art Blakey, Sarah Vaughn, Sony Rollins and particularly Max Roach. R&B enthusiast might also care to note the (admittedly low-key) presence of well-know West Coast tenor sax man Teddy Awards on the live recording on ‘Tenderly’ from a ‘Gene Norman Presents’ release, arranger Ernie Wilkins on Sarah Vaughn’s 1954 ‘September Song’ (Sarah had wanted to use Clifford on sessions even when she was with Chris Powell) and particularly Dinah Washington’s vocal on the ‘All Star Live Jam Session’ recording of Cole Porter’s’ I’ve Got You Under My Skin,’ made in Los Angeles (presumably Dinah was the focus of the wolf whistles heard at the beginning of this track). Habitués of London’s Jazz Café should also be aware that frequent visitor Lou Donaldson is also represented here. Of course, Dizzi Gillespie notwithstanding, bebop tends nowadays to be though of as a saxophonist’s style, an this associated with Charlie Donna Lee’ is from a Philadelphia jam session, a private recording with an official date of 31st May 1955, though some sources claim it originates from 25th June 1956, i.e. only hours before Clifford died. To sum up then, this is a fine set for jazz lovers – and I know there are a good few of them among the readership.
Norman DARWEN – BLUES & RHYTHM
Norman DARWEN – BLUES & RHYTHM
