What Am I Here For? - Clifford Brown, Ellington, Duke
These Foolish Things - Clifford Brown, Link, Harry
The Blues Walk [Alternate Take]
Daahoud [Alternate Take]
Joy Spring [Alternate Take]
In his brief career, Clifford Brown provided a new model for trumpeters, combining crisp articulation, fluent lines, and a beautifully brassy sound. When this material was recorded in 1954, Brown had only recently formed t... more »he quintet with drummer Max Roach, but the strengths that would make it a preeminent group were already apparent. Both Brown and Roach delighted in an incendiary precision, fast tempos on complex material played with joyous ease, and tight rhythmic definition. Brown's inspired invention is apparent everywhere, from the pensive Ellington ballad "What Am I Here For?" to Bud Powell's sleek "Parisian Thoroughfare," while the more relaxed, boppish tenor of Harold Land is a fine complement. Among Brown's tunes for the sessions, "Daahoud" and "Joy Spring" would become frequently played anthems of the hard-bop movement. --Stuart Broomer« less
In his brief career, Clifford Brown provided a new model for trumpeters, combining crisp articulation, fluent lines, and a beautifully brassy sound. When this material was recorded in 1954, Brown had only recently formed the quintet with drummer Max Roach, but the strengths that would make it a preeminent group were already apparent. Both Brown and Roach delighted in an incendiary precision, fast tempos on complex material played with joyous ease, and tight rhythmic definition. Brown's inspired invention is apparent everywhere, from the pensive Ellington ballad "What Am I Here For?" to Bud Powell's sleek "Parisian Thoroughfare," while the more relaxed, boppish tenor of Harold Land is a fine complement. Among Brown's tunes for the sessions, "Daahoud" and "Joy Spring" would become frequently played anthems of the hard-bop movement. --Stuart Broomer
"I'm not going to talk to much about this album other than, if you're a jazz fan, then you need this album. If you ever want to know where Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan got their inspiration, then look no further than this album. That's all I've got to say about this album!
Highly recommended for the jazz fan."
Awesome drum solos in a great cd
Neil B. Donavan | LAGUNA BEACH, CA | 09/24/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"IF YOU ARE A DRUMMER, THIS CD REVEALS THE EARLY MASTERY OF THE DRUMKIT BY MAX ROACH. THE SOLOS ARE INVENTIVE AN MELODIC, NO SOUNDS OF FALLING DOWN THE STAIRS HERE AT ALL."
Nothing to add....
D. Alder | Michigan | 09/29/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The best of the best is on this cd. A true classis in this genre of jazz......Listen and see how it is supposed to be done!!!"
Great choice for a first jazz album; especially for those wh
souldrummer | Washington, DC United States | 12/23/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This album is really at the center of the jazz tradition and is a great choice for someone interested in exploring what sounds they dig. This is one of the most tuneful and hard swinging jazz albums in the tradition and has a polish to it that puts it up there with the best of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Clifford Brown's solos are standard listening for anyone who wants to understand trumpet but his tone is warm, homey and inviting if you want to just let this marinate in the background instead of trying to hear every note that runs by. Harold Land complements him well with an airier tone and they interact well on the classic trading figures on the burning "Blues Walk."
As a drummer, I'm partial to Max Roach and along with the album "Drums Unlimited", which features some of his solo pieces like "The Drum Also Waltzes", this is one of the best ways to hear what Max is up to in conventional group. He's very tasteful in his accompaniment with dynamics and his solos make a lot of logical sense and have lots of space. For beginning drummers, it's a more accessible path to workable solos than starting out with Elvin Jones or Tony Williams but no less deep in its own away.
All of the tunes are great and the arrangements make these definitive versions of the these tunes. "Joyspring" is a favorite. If you like chord changes like this tune or "Daahoud", consider it an encouragement to go deeper into jazz harmonically and head towards the Wayne Shorter arranged stuff like Speak No Evil and the deeper Blue Note sound. "Parisian Thoroughfare" is a Bud Powell standard and that points toward more Parker influenced bebop like his Dial sessions or Complete Bud Powell on Blue Note. "Blues Walk" is just fun and points toward some of the big band or swing era stuff where folks just blow. Duke Ellington's Newport '56 is a great album if you want to hear another famous blues solo.
There's other great stuff here as well and it's nice to have the ballad bass feature of "These Foolish Things" added on.
It's tragic that Brownie's life was cut short but this and the rest of the music by this quintet is a testimony to a spiritual joy that can accompany disciplined mastery of jazz. This is music that speaks to both head and heart."