Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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BROWN, Clifford 'Brownie'

(b 30 Oct. '30, Wilmington DE; d 26 June '56 on Pennsylvania Turnpike) Played in Philadelphia with Miles Davis and Fats Navarro '48; scholarship to Maryland State College '49; hospitalized for months after car crash June '51; toured with R&B group on trumpet and piano '52--3; with Tadd Dameron and Lionel Hampton '53; to California with Max Roach quintet incl. Harold Land. Albums '54 on EmArcy (a Mercury label), concerts and live takes released later; no commercial recordings made during most of '55 while the quintet was becoming the hottest act in jazz (Clifford Brown With Strings Jan. '55 arr. by Neal Hefti; also recorded with vocalists). In Dec. '55 Harold Land left and was replaced by Sonny Rollins; the interplay of the two horns became even finer. Group recorded Jan.--Feb. '56, both live and in studio: 'I'll Remember April' is one of the masterpieces of the era; pianist Richie Powell (b 5 Sep. '31, NYC, brother of Bud Powell) wrote very good tunes, played celeste on 'Time'. Brownie would have been one of the brightest stars of the decade; he kept himself conspicuously clean during the heroin plague of early '50s only to die with Powell in another car crash. Ten-CD The Complete EmArcy Recordings and four-CD The Complete Blue Note And Pacific Jazz Recordings constitute the bulk of the famous work, but there are many other bits and pieces, incl. then-rare live location recordings issued and reissued. Live At The Bee Hive in Chicago '55 later issued on Columbia and JVC; Pure Genius '56 on Elektra Musician from the collection of Mrs Brown. The Ultimate Clifford Brown '97 on Verve was compiled and annotated by trumpeter Nicholas Payton, probably the best possible all-round portrait on one disc.