Clifford Brown - The Definitive Clifford Brown (2002)

When Clifford Brown emerged in 1952, he brought a shining new voice to jazz trumpet, combining a clear, bell-like sound and brilliant articulation with a new flexibility of line. By the time of his tragic death at 25--in a car accident in 1956--Brown had reshaped the jazz trumpet legacy for succeeding generations, influencing players from Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard to Wynton Marsalis and Roy Hargrove. This compilation shows how and why. His soaring leads and subtle accompaniments were clearly appreciated by singers, and there are appearances here with Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, and Helen Merrill. That lyric bent is captured too in the gorgeous "Stardust," the rich, burnished brass of his horn cast against a lush backdrop of strings. But Brown's greatest moments come in the hard-bop quintets where you hear his special rhythmic invention matched with the giants of modern jazz drumming. "Wee Dot" is performed by a prototype of the Jazz Messengers, with Art Blakey and Horace Silver, while Brown is most frequently heard here in different versions of the quintet he lead with Max Roach. Brown's versions of his own "Joy Spring" and "Daahoud" are an essential part of modern jazz, while his creative exchange with tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins has rarely been equaled. -- Stuart Broomer