Biography of Clifford Brown

One of the greatest trumpet players of all time, Brown recorded most of his work for Emarcy from 1954-1956; it can be found in a definitive ten-CD set (Complete Emarcy Recordings), in which there is a preference for studio group sessions co-led with Max Roach of the wonderful Clifford Brown with Strings material. Studio jam sessions and live jams for this label yield much excellent Brown but bog down somewhat in lengthy solos by lesser lights.While there is no Clifford Brown not recommended, one to avoid because of very poor audio is the double Columbia album Live at the Bee Hive (Columbia), while Daahoud (Mainstream) is a pirate release of Emarcy material despite what the album notes say. Other domestic recordings can be found on Prestige, which also includes Swedish recordings from 1953, 1954 concert recordings on GNP, Blue Note and Pacific Jazz combined in the recommended five-album box The Complete Blue Note/Pacific Jazz Clifford Brown (Mosaic) which feature him in a sideman's role for the most part. The French Vogue recordings from 1953 have been issued on a number of US labels -- Prestige and GNP among others. One convenient way to have them is a three-album box Clifford Brown/Paris Collection (Japanese Vogue).There are bits and pieces of live jams in Ingo, Hall of Fame Elektra/Musician, and Xanadu but the quintessential Clifford Brown is the album The Beginning and the End (Columbia), which combines his earliest work as an R&B band sideman with three lengthy jams recorded shortly before his death. His solo on "Donna Lee" from this session is probably the single greatest modern jazz trumpet solo. ~ Bob Porter