Clifford Benjamin Brown was born on October 30, 1930, and died on June 26, 1956. He was an American jazz musician who played the trumpet, piano, and wrote music. He was 25 years old when he died in a car accident. He left behind recordings made over four years. His songs "Sandu," "Joy Spring," and "Daahoud" are now considered jazz standards. In 1954, he won the DownBeat magazine Critics' Poll for New Star of the Year. In 1972, he was added to the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame.

Early career

Clifford Brown was born in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, into a family that loved music. His father formed a singing group with his four sons, including Clifford. Around age ten, Brown began playing the trumpet at school after becoming interested in the shiny trumpet his father owned. At thirteen, his father bought him a trumpet and gave him private lessons. In high school, Brown studied with Robert Boysie Lowery and played in a jazz group that Lowery organized. He also traveled to Philadelphia frequently.

After high school, Brown visited Philadelphia often. He briefly studied math at Delaware State University before switching to Maryland State College. There, he played in the Maryland State Band, a fourteen-member jazz group. In June 1950, Brown was hurt in a car accident after a performance. While in the hospital, Dizzy Gillespie visited him and encouraged him to pursue a music career. For a time, his injuries limited him to playing the piano.

Brown was influenced by Fats Navarro. His first recordings were with R&B bandleader Chris Powell. He later played with Art Blakey, Tadd Dameron, Lionel Hampton, and J. J. Johnson before forming a band with Max Roach.

One important event during Brown’s time in New York was the creation of Art Blakey’s Quintet, which later became The Jazz Messengers. Blakey formed the group with Brown, Lou Donaldson, Horace Silver, and Curley Russell. The quintet recorded their first album live at the Birdland jazz club. During a rehearsal, fellow trumpeter Miles Davis joked about Clifford Brown’s skill on the trumpet. The recording session lasted two days, with multiple attempts needed for only a few songs.

In May 1952, Clifford Brown performed at Club Harlem with alto saxophonist Charlie Parker. Brown later said that Parker was impressed by his playing and told him privately, “I don’t believe it.”

Before forming the Clifford Brown / Max Roach Quintet, Brown and journalist Nat Hentoff were interviewed for a DownBeat article titled “Clifford Brown – the New Dizzy.”

Later career

Max Roach's reputation grew as he recorded with many up-and-coming musicians, such as Bud Powell, Sonny Stitt, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk. He also helped start Debut Records, one of the first labels owned by musicians, with Charles Mingus. After performing in the famous Jazz at Massey Hall concert in 1953, Roach moved to the Los Angeles area and took over as drummer for the popular Lighthouse All-Stars. Roach and Clifford Brown formed the Clifford Brown / Max Roach Quintet in the mid-1950s. The group included tenor saxophonist Harold Land, pianist Richie Powell, and bassist George Morrow. In 1955, Sonny Rollins replaced Harold Land on saxophone.

Clifford Brown was in Los Angeles from March to August 1954, invited by Roach, who had arrived on the West Coast with other respected jazz musicians, including Miles Davis and Charles Mingus. Before their first performance, the 1954 Pasadena Auditorium Concert, Roach chose Brown as a co-leader.

The band began when Brown and Roach rented a studio in California. Since Brown could play piano and drums in addition to trumpet, the co-leaders had many opportunities to experiment with these instruments. They decided on the standard bebop quintet setup, which included trumpet, saxophone, piano, bass, and drums. When their first choice for saxophone, Sonny Stitt, chose a different musical path, the leaders selected saxophonist Teddy Edwards, bassist George Bledsoe, and pianist Carl Perkins. Although the group did not last long, it caused a big reaction in the jazz community, according to Sam Samuelson.

While forming the band, Brown and Roach met Eric Dolphy, an alto saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist who hosted jam sessions in his apartment. Future quintet members Harold Land and George Morrow were among the musicians who attended these sessions. Richie Powell, brother of Bud Powell, joined the group as pianist around this time. The band accepted recording offers, and Brown composed several songs used by the quintet. Meanwhile, Jack Montrose of Pacific Coast Jazz Records organized a larger, fully arranged band for an upcoming session. The session included "West Coast cool" music with "immaculately performed charts," according to Gordon Jack of Jazz Journal.

An early recording by the Brown/Roach Quintet, titled Clifford Brown & Max Roach, featured the group performing Brown's latest compositions. Sam Samuelson described the album as a "nice gamut between boplicity and pleasant balladry." Other albums with Brown and Roach included Brown and Roach Incorporated and Study in Brown.

Brown also recorded outside the quintet, including a Pacific Coast Jazz session and two albums with jazz singer Dinah Washington. These recordings were made during jam sessions and included other trumpet players, such as Maynard Ferguson and Clark Terry. After the Dinah Washington recordings, Brown slowed his recording pace and returned to the East Coast, where he recorded an album with Sarah Vaughan in December 1954.

In the 1955 session Study in Brown, the group continued experimenting with bop. For example, they used instrument sounds to mimic city life in "Parisian Thoroughfare" and added an "international flavor" to "George's Dilemma." Jazz critic Scott Yanow called the album "premiere early hard bop" and noted the quintet's "unlimited potential."

A 1955 live performance by Brown with Billy Root and Ziggy Vines (sometimes mistakenly believed to have been recorded just before Brown's death a year later) was released in 1973. After this session, Art Blakey temporarily replaced Roach following a car accident. The group toured, visiting Chicago and Rhode Island for the Newport Jazz Festival. Roach returned for the festival performance and jam session.

In 1956, the quintet's final "official album," At Basin Street, was released. The album introduced Sonny Rollins and was called a "hard bop classic" and "highly recommended" by Scott Yanow. Unlike previous albums, which included original compositions, this one mainly featured jazz standards, though it also included a few songs written by Richie Powell.

Personal life

In June 1954, Brown married Emma LaRue Anderson (1933–2005), whom he called "Joy Spring." Max Roach introduced them. Clifford and Anderson had their marriage ceremony three times because their families lived on opposite sides of the United States and because they belonged to different religions—Brown was Methodist, and Anderson was Catholic. Their first ceremony took place privately on June 26, 1954, in Los Angeles, on Anderson's 21st birthday. They had another ceremony in July 1954 in a religious setting, and the marriage was officially recorded in Los Angeles County. A reception followed at the Tiffany Club, where the Red Norvo Trio with Tal Farlow and Red Mitchell had recently replaced the Art Pepper / Jack Montrose Quintet. Anderson's priest from her church traveled to Boston, where Clifford and Anderson had their third marriage ceremony on August 1, 1954, at Saint Richards Church in the Roxbury neighborhood.

In 1955, Clifford and Anderson had a son named Clifford Brown Jr., who later became a jazz broadcaster and educator. Brown avoided drugs and did not enjoy drinking alcohol. Rollins, who was recovering from a heroin addiction, said Clifford had a big influence on his life, showing that it was possible to live a good, clean life while being a great jazz musician. Lou Donaldson noted that Clifford practiced the trumpet with great dedication, often doing lip and mouth exercises all day.

Death

On June 26, 1956, Brown and Richie Powell began a trip to Chicago for their next performance. Powell’s wife, Nancy, was driving so Clifford and Richie could rest. While traveling at night in the rain on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, she probably lost control of the car. The vehicle left the road west of Bedford, leading to a crash that killed all three people. Brown is buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware.

Legacy

Jazz historian Ira Gitler said about Clifford Brown, "I'm sorry I never got to know him better. Just because someone plays music beautifully doesn't always mean they are a great person. However, in Clifford Brown's case, his amazing musical talent seems connected to his kindness and strength as a person. Photographs of Clifford Brown show parts of his personality. The pictures of him playing his trumpet reveal his deep focus and strong connection to his instrument."

In the 1990s, video from the TV show Soupy's On (hosted by comedian Soupy Sales, who loved jazz and invited many famous musicians to his show) was found. The video shows Clifford Brown playing two songs. This is the only known video of Brown playing music.

Brown's nephew, drummer Rayford Griffin (formerly named Rayford Galen Griffin; born in 1958), updated Brown's music on his 2015 album Reflections of Brownie. Brown's grandson, Clifford Benjamin Brown III (born in 1982), plays trumpet on one track, "Sandu."

Benny Golson wrote the song "I Remember Clifford" in 1957 to honor Brown. Jon Hendricks added lyrics to the song. Over the years, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Farmer, Bud Powell, Art Blakey, and Golson performed the song to remember Brown. In 1992, musician Arturo Sandoval released an album titled I Remember Clifford as a tribute to Brown.

Discography

• 1953: New Faces, New Sounds with Lou Donaldson (Blue Note, 1953) [10-inch record]
• 1953: New Star on the Horizon (Blue Note, 1953) [10-inch record]
• 1953: Clifford Brown and Art Farmer with The Swedish All Stars with Art Farmer (Prestige, 1954) [10-inch record]
• 1954: Clifford Brown & Max Roach (EmArcy, 1954) [10-inch record]
• 1954: Brown and Roach Incorporated (EmArcy, 1955)
• 1954: Clifford Brown All Stars (EmArcy, 1956)
• 1954: Best Coast Jazz (EmArcy, 1956)
• 1954: Jam Session with Clark Terry and Maynard Ferguson (EmArcy, 1954) – live
• 1955: Clifford Brown with Strings (EmArcy, 1955)
• 1955: Study in Brown (EmArcy, 1955)
• 1956: Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street (EmArcy, 1956)

• Memorial Album (Blue Note, 1956) – LP version combining New Faces, New Sounds and New Star on the Horizon
• Memorial (Prestige, 1956) – LP version combining Clifford Brown and Art Farmer with The Swedish All Stars and A Study In Dameronia
• Jazz Immortal featuring Zoot Sims (Pacific Jazz, 1960)
• The Clifford Brown Sextet In Paris (Prestige, 1970) – recorded in 1953
• The Beginning And The End (Columbia, 1973) – compilation
• Raw Genius – Live at Bee Hive Chicago 1955 Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 with Max Roach (Victor, 1977) – live recorded in 1955. Japan only. Also released as Live at The Bee Hive (Columbia, 1979) [2LP]
• Pure Genius (Volume One) with Max Roach (Elektra Musician, 1982) – live recorded in 1956
• More Study in Brown (EmArcy, 1983)
• Jams 2 (EmArcy, 1983) – recorded in 1954
• Alternate Takes (Blue Note, 1984) – recorded in 1953

• The Complete Blue Note and Pacific Jazz Recordings of Clifford Brown (Mosaic Records, 1984) [5LP]
• Brownie: The Complete EmArcy Recordings of Clifford Brown (EmArcy / Nippon Phonographic, 1989) [10CD]

• Art Blakey, Live Messengers (Blue Note, 1978)
• J. J. Johnson, Jay Jay Johnson with Clifford Brown (Blue Note, 1953), reissued as The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 1
• Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, A Night at Birdland Vol. 1 (Blue Note, 1954)
• Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, A Night at Birdland Vol. 2 (Blue Note, 1954)
• Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, A Night at Birdland Vol. 3 (Blue Note, 1954)
• Tadd Dameron, A Study In Dameronia (Prestige, 1953) [10-inch record]
• Helen Merrill, Helen Merrill (EmArcy, 1955) – recorded in 1954
• Sonny Rollins, Sonny Rollins Plus 4 (Prestige, 1956) (also issued in Brown's name as Three Giants)
• Sarah Vaughan, Sarah Vaughan (EmArcy, 1955) – recorded in 1954
• Dinah Washington, Dinah Jams (EmArcy, 1955) – live recorded in 1954