Clifford Brown: The Life and Art of the Legendary Jazz Trumpeter

By Nick Catalano

Book Overview

Although he died in a tragic car accident at twenty-five, Clifford Brown is widely considered one of the most important figures in the history of jazz, a trumpet player who ranks with Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis, and a leading influence on contemporary jazz musicians. Now, in Clifford Brown: The Life and Art of the Legendary Jazz Trumpeter, Nick Catalano gives us the first major biography of this musical giant.
Based on extensive interviews with Clifford Brown's family, friends, and fellow jazz musicians, here is a fascinating portrait of a remarkable musician. Catalano depicts Brown's early life, showing how he developed a facility and dazzling technique that few jazz players have ever equaled. We read of his meteoric rise in Philadelphia, where he played with many of the leading jazz players of the 1950s, including Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker; his tour of Europe with Lionel Hampton, which made him famous; and his formation of the Brown-Roach Quintet with prominent drummer Max Roach--one of the most popular hard bop combos of the day. Catalano also shows that Brown was a remarkable individual--he grew up in a middle-class African-American home in Wilmington, Delaware, attended college, was a skilled mathematician, and had wide cultural interests. Moreover, in an era when most jazz players were either alcoholics or addicts, Brown was clean-living and drug free. Indeed, he became a role model for musicians who were struggling with drugs and had great influence in this area with one prominent colleague, tenor sax player Sonny Rollins.
Clifford Brown not only provides a colorful account of Brown's life, but also features an informed analysis of his major recorded solos, highlighting Brown's originality and revealing why he remains a great influence on trumpet players today. It is a book that anyone with a serious interest in jazz will want to own.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195100832
• ISBN13: 9780195100839
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

The Best History of Clifford Available

To my knowledge, this is the only full biography of Clifford Brown ever written. It covers his entire life, from his birth, through his Blue Flame days, all the way to his historical work with Max Roach. The book also includes 8 or so pages of pictures in the middle, which is great for those of you whom haven't seen brownie, and a nearly complete discography in the back of the book. Simply put, Clifford Brown is one of the best jazz trumpeters of all time (my favorite, personally), and quite possibly the most tragic loss in jazz history. Any jazz musicians, Clifford fans, or general jazz aficionados should check this book out if they are looking to learn about one of the greats.

Clifford Brown-Maybe The Ultimate 'Tough Sell' Book'

Clifford Brown really was 'too good to be true'...didn't drink,do drugs...incredible jazz musician.Nick Catalano really does an "impossible job" in telling the story of the great trumpeter who died tragically way before his time-and Catalano's anaysis of Brown's recordings makes the case that Brown is a man who "coulda been king"(even though he sorta was anyway). .

Brownie

Clifford Brown had one of the most beautiful trumpet tones in all of modern jazz, and technique that other players would die for. He was not your "typical" (as portrayed to the masses) jazz musician - he didn't drink, smoke, or use drugs; he had a family and a good marriage; he worked hard at his craft. The tragedy is that he was killed in a car crash at the age of 25 at the height of his powers. Even by then though, he had recorded a number of albums establishing himself as one of the greats in the business. Catalano's book competently traces Brownie's life, from the beginnings in Wilmington, Delaware, to his days with the Lionel Hampton band, early sideman dates in NYC, gigs in LA and Chicago, and finally the formation of the Brown-Max Roach Quintet with Harold Land and then Sonny Rollins on tenor. Catalano is a musician so is able to analyze Brownie's performances and recordings, which he does well, but the life history of the man is told somewhat blandly. We finish the book with a good skeletal outline of Brown's life and career, but much of the meat seems missing.