Clifford Brown - Brownie Eyes
Released - 1974
Recording and Session Information
WOR Studios, NYC, June 9, 1953
Clifford Brown, trumpet; Lou Donaldson, alto sax; Elmo Hope, piano; Percy Heath, bass; "Philly" Joe Jones, drums.
BN489-1 tk.2 Bellarosa
BN492-0 tk.9 Brownie Speaks
BN493-0 tk.10 De-Dah
WOR Studios, NYC, June 22, 1953
Clifford Brown, trumpet; Jay Jay Johnson, trombone; Jimmy Heath, tenor, baritone sax; John Lewis, piano; Percy Heath, bass; Kenny Clarke, drums.
BN508-1 tk.15 Get Happy (alternate take)
Audio-Video Studios, NYC, August 28, 1953
Clifford Brown, trumpet; Gigi Gryce, alto sax, flute; Charlie Rouse, tenor sax; John Lewis, piano; Percy Heath, bass; Art Blakey, drums.
BN524-2 tk.3 Wail Bait
BN525-1 tk.9 Hymn Of The Orient
BN526-1 tk.13 Brownie Eyes
BN527-1 tk.21 Cherokee
BN528-0 tk.23 Easy Living
Track Listing
| Side One | ||
| Title | Author | Recording Date |
| Hymn Of The Orient | G. Gryce | August 28 1953 |
| Easy Living | L. Robin/R. Rainger | August 28 1953 |
| Cherokee (Indian Love Song) | R. Noble | August 28 1953 |
| Wail Bait | Q. Jones | August 28 1953 |
| Brownie Speaks | C. Brown | August 28 1953 |
| Side Two | ||
| Brownie Eyes | Q. Jones | June 9 1953 |
| Bella Rosa | E. Hope | June 9 1953 |
| Get Happy | H. Arlen/T. Koehler | June 22 1953 |
| De-Dah | E. Hope | June 9 1953 |
Liner Notes
Many years ago, in annotating a memorial album for Clifford Brown, I observed that seemingly in jazz the good, especially if they happen to play the trumpet, die young. Lost in their twenties or early thirties were Bix Beiderbecke, Bunny Berigan, Freddie Webster, Sonny Berman, Fats Navarro. When Clifford Brown's automobile skidded off the highway in the small hours of June 26, 1956 he was just four months short of his twenty-sixth birthday. The man most musicians considered the greatest new trumpet talent of the new generation was killed outright.
It was Blue Note Records that had given Brownie his initial glimpse of fame by recording his first session as a leader, August 28, 1953; by an ironic coincidence it was enroute to another Blue Note, a night club in Chicago by the same name, that his career was cut short. Musicians all over the world mourned a loss that was all the more tragic in that it had taken the life of a man who, unlike so many artists of popular fiction and social fact, had lived cleanly and honorably, had remained studious and ambitious, had never done anything physically to destroy himself.
Brownie's career as a name jazzman lasted only two or three years; prior to that, his artistry was in the formative stage and was restricted by various setbacks. Born October 30, 1930 in Wilmington, Del., he received his first trumpet from his father on entering senior high school in 1945 and joined the school band shortly afterward.
It wasn't until a year or so later that the mysterious world of jazz chord changes and improvisation began to shed its veil for him. Brownie credited a talented musician and jazz enthusiast named Robert Lowery for the unveiling.
On graduating in 1948, the teenage trumpeter began playing gigs in Philadelphia. Later that year he entered Delaware State College on a music scholarship. There was, however, a slight snag: the college happened to be momentarily short of a music department. Brownie stayed on for a year anyhow, majoring in mathematics and taking up a little spare time by playing dates in Philadelphia with Kenny Dorham, Max Roach, Jay Jay Johnson and Fats Navarro. Fats, who was greatly impressed with the youngster's potential, offered him substantial inspiration and encouragement.
Brownie next had a chance to enter a college that did boast a good music department, Maryland State. Playing in and arranging for its 16-piece band, he was making good headway until one ominous evening in June 1950 when, on his way home from a gig, he was involved in the first of three automobile accidents, the last of which would prove fatal.
From that time until mid-1951, Brownie had plenty of opportunity for contemplation, but very little time for improving his embouchure or technique. After the year's hiatus, with the help of some verbal encouragement from Dizzy Gillespie, he resumed his activities, leading his own group for a while in Philadelphia.
Next came a stint with the Chris Powell rhythm and blues combo, with which he was working when some of the tracks in this album (Brownie Speaks, Bella Rosa and De-Dah) were taped June 9, 1953 at a quintet date under the direction of alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson.
Brownie worked next with Tadd Dameron in Atlantic City, after which he joined the Lionel Hampton orchestra, touring Europe with him in the fall of 1953. In 1954 he won the Down Beat Critics' Poll as New Star of the Year. By that time he had established himself as a combo leader on records, cutting his first sextet date for Blue Note.
The first four tracks heard here are all products of that date, for which Clifford's colleagues were Gigi Gryce on alto sax and flute; Charlie Rouse on tenor; John Lewis on piano; Percy Heath on bass; and Art Blakey on drums.
Gigi Gryce's Hymn of the Orient is a minor mode, briskly played swinger in which Brownie takes two magnificent choruses. Spitting out eighth notes with the accuracy of a key punch machine, he creates long, flowing phrases and executes them with an impeccable authority that marked his work throughout his recording career.
Rouse and Gryce split a chorus; John Lewis is heard in a typically sedate groove, with sympathetic fills by Blakey. A trade of fours between Brownie and Blakey precedes the rideout.
Clifford breathes immediate, vibrant life into the melody of Easy Living. Only a chorus and a half long, this is a masterpiece of construction and possibly his finest ballad interpretation.
Cherokee was always the beboppers' great challenge, partly because of the breakneck tempo at which it was usually played, and partly because of the harmonic demands inherent in the bridge. Charlie Parker in his Ko Ko version, set a standard that made it hard for others to follow, but Brownie is unfazed as he takes off at a wild clip. Again there is an energetic series of four bar exchanges with Blakey.
Wail Bait, a composition by the then 20-year-old Quincy Jones, offers the gentle kind of jazz melody associated in those days with a handful of writers among whom Quincy already was preéminent. There is an excellent chorus split by Lewis and Gryce, the latter sounding like a junior league Bird; then some of Brownie's most eloquent thoughts are extended over a full chorus. A Charlie Rouse solo and some neatly etched ensemble playing take up the balance of the track.
Brownie Speaks was recorded at the Lou Donaldson Quintet session, June 9, 1953, with Brownie and Donaldson constituting the front line. In the rhythm section were Elmo Hope, piano; Percy Heath, bass; and Philly Joe Jones, drums. The tune, composed by Brownie, is straight ahead bebop, based on the I Got Rhythm pattern and illustrative of how much a musician of Brownie's caliber could extract from those few basic changes.
Donaldson and Hope are in good form, the latter playing some downward spirals that suggest a heavy Bud Powell influence. Philly Joe spans the bridge on the out-chorus.
Brownie Eyes brings us back to the Clifford Brown Sextet date, with Gigi Gryce on flute in the ensemble background, as Clifford states the melody. Gryce switches to alto for a half chorus before Brownie takes over.
Bella Rosa, from the Lou Donaldson date, is a good humored, happy moderato line. Brownie plays here with such consummate command that it is hard to realize, in retrospect, that he was a sideman rather than a leader on the date. Notice particularly his sense of time and his use of grace notes. Had he lived, he might well have outpaced all his successors.
Get Happy is a ringer, recorded at a date under the leadership of Jay Jay Johnson. Along with Jay Jay's trombone and Brownie's horn are the brothers Jimmy and Percy Heath on tenor and bass respectively, along with John Lewis on piano and Kenny Klook Clarke on drums. It is interesting to note that the rhythm section here was that of the Modern Jazz Quartet, which had already gotten under way as a recording unit but was not yet an organized traveling combo. Get Happy was Harold Arlen's first hit song and it is fascinating to observe how well its 1930 melody and harmonic sequence have stood the test of time.
De-Dah, composed by Elmo Hope, is another product of the Lou Donaldson date, with strong contributions by Hope, Lou and two incomparable choruses by Brownie. As on so many of the tracks, however, at the point where Clifford enters, everything that has preceded him fades into the background as a virtual prelude or warmup for his solo; nor does anything that follows him (unison riffs, Percy's bridge, Elmo's fills) have a chance of sustaining the level of excitement he achieves.
It would be unjust to Clifford's memory, or to the perceptivity of his contemporaries. to say that he died unhonored and unsung. For a couple of years before his untimely death, he enjoyed a degree of recognition almost commensurate with what he deserved. To point out that this recognition could have brought him to the pinnacle of jazz fame in a few years is to stress the obvious. As has been necessary over the years with so many of our giants, we prefer to think of his recorded legacy not us a saddening reminder of his death, but rather as an ebullient celebration of his life.
—LEONARD FEATHER
(Author of The New Encyclopedia oi Jazz, Horizon Press)
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