Clifford Benjamin Brown was an American jazz trumpeter and composer.
14 Facts About Clifford Brown
2.
Clifford Brown died at the age of 25 in a car crash, leaving behind four years' worth of recordings.
3.
Clifford Brown was born into a musical family in Wilmington, Delaware.
4.
Clifford Brown's father organized his four sons, including Clifford, into a vocal quartet.
5.
Around age ten, Clifford Brown started playing trumpet at school after becoming fascinated with the shiny trumpet his father owned.
6.
In high school, Clifford Brown received lessons from Robert Boysie Lowery and played in "a jazz group that Lowery organized", making trips to Philadelphia.
7.
Clifford Brown briefly attended Delaware State University as a math major before he switched to Maryland State College.
8.
Clifford Brown played in the fourteen-piece, jazz-oriented Maryland State Band.
9.
Clifford Brown worked with Art Blakey, Tadd Dameron, Lionel Hampton and JJ Johnson, before forming a band with Max Roach.
10.
The band accepted recording session offers and Clifford Brown composed several tunes that were adopted by the new quintet.
11.
Clifford Brown recorded albums outside of the quintet, including the Pacific Coast Jazz session and two albums with jazz vocalist Dinah Washington.
12.
Clifford Brown married Emma LaRue Anderson, whom he called "Joy Spring", in Los Angeles, in 1954.
13.
Clifford Brown stayed away from drugs and was not fond of alcohol.
14.
Clifford Brown showed me that it was possible to live a good, clean life and still be a good jazz musician.