The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz (47 page)

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Authors: Tom Piazza

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BOOK: The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz
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with rhythms and melodic elements that had their roots in the jazz tradition. Later albums such as
In a Silent Way
(Columbia CK 40580) and the famous
Bitches Brew
(Columbia G2K 40577) are credited, rightly, with ushering in the hybrid form known as fusion, which took musicians in a direction that I don't feel is consistent with the kinds of implicit musical values that jazz stands for, no matter what the stylistic persuasion or individual temperament involved.
There is an elegance, a constant mixing of the bitter and the sweet, the sweet in the teeth of the bitter (and vice versa), that marks jazz and that is absent from fusion music, with a very small handful of exceptions. The music on
In a Silent Way
and Davis's subsequent records points in the direction of trance and stasis, and I find it kind of boring. The jazz world is split on the subject of Davis's later work; plenty of people think it's good, and that's fine with me. But I can't recommend Davis's post-1968 work as jazz.
Clifford Brown
Of all the trumpeters who came to prominence in the 1950s in the immediate wake of bebop, Clifford Brown was perhaps the most respected and imitated. His crisply articulated style and broad, singing tone grew most noticeably out of the style of Fats Navarro, yet there was something more intimate and warmer about Brown's playing, and he is still a potent influence to this day.
Unlike Navarro, whose early death was brought on by dissipation, Brownie was killed in an auto accident in June 1956 while only twenty-five years old. On listening to his long, perfectly controlled, swinging, and imaginative lines, as well as to his sensitive and mature way with ballads, you can hear why he is remembered and missed by all who knew and played with him. Except for a few early recordings with a rhythm-and-blues band, Brown's recording career encompassed barely three years, from 1953 to 1956. But he recorded some extremely beautiful and exciting music in that short time.
Perhaps the best place to start is with the
Clifford Brown Memorial Album
(Blue Note 81526). The album contains the results of two 1953 sessions, one pairing Brown with alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson and drummer Philly Joe Jones, the other with Gigi Gryce and Charlie Rouse on alto and tenor, respectively, and Art Blakey on drums. The sides with Lou Donaldson also feature the seldom-heard pianist Elmo Hope. Brownie plays well on both sessions, although the one with Gryce and Rouse has the edge. Listen particularly to the two stunning trumpet choruses on the first take of "Hymn of the Orient"; the swing Brownie generates, the logic of his ideas, the way each phrase grows out of the one before, the attention to detail, and his crisp attack are all definitive of his playing.
 
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His handling of the very fast bebop test piece "Cherokee" also shows his mighty chops, as well as his taste. Everything here is to a musical effect; his exchanges with Blakey at the end are particularly cogent. And his glorious ballad playing on "Easy Living" and Quincy Jones's ''Brownie Eyes" reveals one of the fullest and most beautiful open-horn sounds in history. "Easy Living," in particular, is a moving story, in which Brown uses the entire range of the horn and the full range of dynamics, from loud to soft, even throwing in some triple-time passages that offset his clarion held notes and fit perfectly with the mood he has set up.
The hardest-swinging side of Brown's personality is shown on two discs, recorded live at Birdland in 1954, by a quintet led by Art Blakey.
A Night at Birdland, Volume 1
(Blue Note 46519) and
Volume 2
(Blue Note 46520) contain some of the most explosive small-group jazz of the 1950s. Brown shares the front line, again, with Lou Donaldson; the rhythm section includes Blakey, pianist and future bandleader Horace Silver, and bassist Curly Russell. In a program consisting mainly of medium- and up-tempo cookers (including jazz standards like Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time" and "Confirmation" and Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night in Tunisia," as well as characteristic Silver originals like "Quicksilver" and "Split Kick"), Brown gives out a staggering display of pure invention and swing. His one ballad feature, "Once in a While," is also fine, but the set belongs to the swingers.
Brown's solo on the fast blues "Wee Dot" is exhilarating; he surfs with amazing authority on top of the constantly cresting wave formed by Silver's gospel/riff-based piano and Blakey's driving ride cymbal. The same might be said for his playing on the slightly slower "Split Kick," which, if anything, swings even harder and is even more inventive, as Brown bounces accents off of Blakey's snare drum and tom-tom commentary. At one point, after a particularly inspired phrase in Brown's solo, you can hear someone in the audience yell "yeah!" in surprise. Both volumes are essential.
More excellent work by Brown can be found on
The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Volume 1
(Blue Note 81505), which contains the complete results of a June 1953 recording session led by the great trombone innovator and including tenor saxophone master Jimmy Heath, his brother Percy Heath on bass, and drummer Kenny Clarke. Brown takes excellent solos on every tune (except for "Lover Man" and "It Could Happen to You," two Johnson ballad features), especially on the two takes of the up-tempo "Get Happy." The very fast Johnson original "Turnpike" is a riff based on Thelonious Monk's "Thelonious." On "Sketch 1," a composition by John Lewis, who plays piano on the date, Brown takes a nice cup-muted solo.
All the material mentioned so far is included on a deluxe set from Mosaic
 
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Records, one of the most important and imaginative independent jazz companies in existence, entitled
The Complete Blue Note and Pacific Jazz Recordings of Clifford Brown
(Mosaic MR5-104, LP only). In addition, this boxed set includes some fine and somewhat more mellow sides recorded in the summer of 1954 in Los Angeles, with Brown in the very sympathetic company of tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims and some other good West Coast men. If you are already a Brown fan, this set is a wise investment.
Brown's lyrical side is up front on Prestige's
Clifford Brown Memorial
(Prestige/OJC-017). The first four tunes here were recorded in the fall of 1953 in Sweden and pair Brown with another important trumpeter of the time, Art Farmer. Farmer is extremely lyrical and inventive, but, as good as he is, I would not have wanted to be another trumpeter in the same studio as Clifford Brown. The clarity and grandeur of Brown's conception are in a class of their own. On "'Scuse These Blues," on which the two trumpeters trade ideas back and forth, Brown sneaks in a quote from Fats Navarro's solo on "The Squirrel" (on
The Fabulous Fats Navarro, Volume 1
[Blue Note 81531]). The other five tracks are from a date led by composer Tadd Dameron, with Philly Joe Jones on drums and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson taking some roaring solos. Brownie solos brilliantly and at length on "Philly J.J." and "Choose Now," and his beautiful lead work on "Dial 'B' for Beauty'' and "Theme of No Repeat" is something to hear.
Three albums recorded during the same 1953 European sojourn on which the material with Farmer was recorded (Brown and Farmer were both playing with Lionel Hampton's big band that fall) are quite uneven:
The Clifford Brown Quartet in Paris
(Prestige/OJC-357),
The Clifford Brown Sextet in Paris
(Prestige/OJC-358), and
The Clifford Brown Big Band in Paris
(Prestige/OJC-359). The quartet set is marred by the rhythmically unsure piano playing of the young Henri Renaud and unimpressive drumming by Benny Bennett, but Brownie turns in good performances on all the tunes, especially the second take of the whirlwind "The Song Is You" and all three takes of "You're a Lucky Guy." The recording quality is a little harsh here, and there is a hurried feeling to the proceedings which, according to the liner notes, echoes the conditions under which the date was recorded (Brownie was rushing to catch a plane).
The sextet album, recorded two weeks earlier, has Brownie in more relaxed shape, although there isn't quite as much of him, since he shares solo space with alto saxophonist Gigi Gryce and guitarist Jimmy Gourley. The rhythm section, again, is a little sodden (except for bassist Pierre Michelot), but the sound is better. Brownie plays beautifully on Gryce's original ballad "Strictly Romantic" and cooks on "Baby" and "Salute to the Bandbox." The big-band set has some of Brown's best playing of the three albums. Two takes of
 
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"Brown Skins" have him wailing, at length, on the chords of "Cherokee," and "Keeping Up with Jonesy" again has him trading ideas with Art Farmer. But for the most part, the set leaves you wanting more Brownie and less of the big band and other soloists.
Brown-Roach, Incorporated
In 1954 Clifford Brown joined forces with drummer Max Roach, who had first come to prominence with Charlie Parker, and formed a quintet that would be Brownie's musical home until the trumpeter's death in 1956. The rhythm section included Bud Powell's brother Richie on piano and bassist George Morrow, in addition to Roach, and Brownie shared the front line first with the underrated Harold Land, then with the impossible-to-overrate Sonny Rollins; this second incarnation of the band was certainly one of the classic small groups in jazz history.
You can hear the quintet with Rollins at its best on
Sonny Rollins Plus Four
(Prestige/OJC-243). This set has all concerned, especially Brown and Rollins, playing at the highest level; although they had been together only three months at the time the recording was made, the two horn players shared something special and set each other off perfectly. Their exchanges at the end of the up-tempo "Kiss and Run" are literally breathtaking. Brown's playing on the wickedly fast "I Feel a Song Coming On" is awesome, as is another set of exchanges with Rollins at the end of the tune. This set also includes Rollins's standards-to-be "Pent-Up House" and the jazz waltz "Valse Hot," both of which elicit customary brilliance from Brownie. A true landmark recording.
For a true Clifford Brown fan, the ultimate treasure trove is the ten-CD box
Brownie - The Complete EmArcy Recordings of Clifford Brown
(EmArcy/Polygram 838 306-2). In addition to a generous helping of material by Brown's last quintet (including "Gertrude's Bounce," several takes of "I'll Remember April," and the delicious "Flossie Lou"), the set includes material by the quintet with Harold Land, including "Joy Spring," "Jordu,'' and "Daahoud," some California studio jam session material with altoists Herb Geller and Joe Maini, albums featuring Brown with singers Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, and Helen Merrill, and a gorgeous set featuring Brownie in front of a string orchestra playing standards like "Stardust," "Willow Weep for Me," "Where or When," and "Embraceable You." His maturity on ballads is hard to believe, considering he was twenty-four when the session was recorded; this is one of the most sublime trumpet ballad sets you can find.
The set with Dinah Washington is a special highlight; Brown shares the trumpet spotlight with the first-rate Clark Terry and the high-note artist Maynard Ferguson. A telling moment is the section of three-way trumpet
 
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exchanges on "I've Got You Under My Skin," which Terry leads off with sixteen bars, followed by Ferguson for sixteen noisy bars in which he reaches into the high register for no particular reason. When Brown comes on, he plays twenty-four bars that completely erase what the others have done; his phrases are totally logical and swinging, covering the horn's entire range, reaching into the upper register for an emotional high point, while maintaining by far the most beautiful sound of the three. After this, Terry and Ferguson come back in to trade fours all around, and Brownie sounds like he's out for blood. Terry plays some triple-time figures in his first four, Ferguson follows suit, as does Brownie, again winning the imagination and coherence contest; when Ferguson reaches into his high-note bag on the next round, Brownie answers with some mind-boggling ascending and descending glissandos, followed up with some more treacherous triple-timing. Make sure you hear this. And don't miss the scorching performance of "Lover Come Back to Me," at the end of which Dinah shouts out the closing chorus with all the horns blowing like mad behind her, a moment that conveys the kind of nearly apocalyptic glory jazz can rise to when the vibes are right. A fair amount of this material is available in single-disc sets such as
Study in Brown
(EmArcy 814 646-2),
At Basin Street
(EmArcy 814 648-2), and
Brown/Roach, Incorporated
(EmArcy 814 644-2), but the box is worth the investment. Wherever you start, be sure to get to know Clifford Brown's playing.
Lee Morgan
Clifford Brown influenced countless younger trumpeters, but none more than the supremely talented Lee Morgan. Not yet nineteen when he made his first splash with Dizzy Gillespie's mid-1950s big band, Morgan quickly became an in-demand sideman for recording sessions and the star trumpet player in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, which he played with off and on throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Morgan had a brash, bravura style rooted solidly in Brown's playing but with an extra sassy edge, an inclination to always take the extra chance, which makes listening to him a little like watching a daring young man on a flying trapeze. But he could play lyrically, too, and he was certainly one of the most all-around talented trumpeters in jazz.
One of the best albums Morgan recorded under his own leadership is the 1964
Search for the New Land
(Blue Note 84169), where he was teamed with tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, guitarist Grant Green, and a rhythm section of Herbie Hancock, Reggie Workman, and Billy Higgins in a program consisting entirely of his original compositions. The title tune is a pentatonic

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