Clifford Brown

For players that are first learning about Clifford Brown, the great bebop jazz trumpeter, I recommend the album:


Study In Brown.

This has a lot of classic songs like Jordu, Sandu, and Clifford's definitive recording of Cherokee. He recorded it with drummer, Max Roach who was one of the great bepop/jazz drummers. Both were known for their fast tempos and virtuosic abilities on their instruments and compliment each other's styles. Clifford's playing is both virtuosic technically and elegant musically. As you learn more about Clifford and his solos, it seems that he was almost a "Mozart" of his time. The way he could intuitively connect chord changes and harmonies in his solos are uncanny. Not to mention his style and phrasing are out of this world. Definitely start with Study in Brown. There are many other great recordings out there too, considering that Clifford died young. One essential recording to every musicians library after Study in Brown, is Clifford with Strings. More on that in another post.