Yet more jazz: Clifford Brown

Clifford Brown

Still exploring the trumpet genealogy (for list of posts, see here), another fine player, influenced by Fats Navarro, was Clifford Brown (1930–56):

This is the only known film footage of him:

Here’s a tribute from Ken Clarke.

You go to my head (1954):

* * *

I also have to single out the most stunning trumpet solo from Roy Eldridge (following a plaintive one from a dying Lester Young) inspired by a spellbound Billie Holiday on their utterly gorgeous 1957 TV session.

That’s in a class of its own, but other early videos give a feeling of jazzers relishing each other’s creativity, like this clip of Bird with Coleman Hawkins, and later, Buddy Rich on drums (despite the arid studio setting):

Note my jazz roundup, including Billie, Bird, Miles, Coltrane, and much more…

As I keep saying, if only we had such a wealth of video footage for Yanggao shawm bands and Daoists in the 1940s—or Bach’s band in the 1720s, for that matter.

4 thoughts on “Yet more jazz: Clifford Brown

  1. Pingback: Lee Morgan | Stephen Jones: a blog

  2. Pingback: Trumpets, wind and brass bands | Stephen Jones: a blog

  3. Pingback: The spiritual path of John Coltrane | Stephen Jones: a blog

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