Two Sessions, Three Years Later
Brown's trumpet was already fully formed by 1953, confident and singing on every take.
Memorial Album arrived in 1956 as a Blue Note compilation of two sessions recorded three years earlier — June and August of 1953. The original ten-inch releases, New Faces – New Sounds (1953) and New Star on the Horizon (1953), have a scattered history, but this collection lets you hear them together, which matters because they document Clifford Brown at a moment when he was still finding his place in the jazz world.
Brown's trumpet voice is already completely his own here. There's no searching or uncertainty — he plays with the kind of confidence you'd expect from someone who'd already absorbed what Dizzy Gillespie and Fats Navarro had done but wasn't trying to copy them. The phrasing is clean, the tone warm without being sentimental, and his solos have real structure. What's striking is how much ground he covers across these sessions without sounding scattered. He can take a ballad and make it breathe naturally, then turn around and drive hard on a fast blues. The rhythm section work is solid if not always distinctive — these aren't the most memorable supporting casts — but Brown never gets bogged down by that.
Where does this sit in Brown's catalog? It's not the essential starting point. That would be later recordings with better rhythm sections and tighter overall production. But if you're already into Brown and want to hear him on his way up, still hungry, working harder to prove himself, this is worthwhile. The album reads like a snapshot of a young musician before everything clicked into place commercially. By 1954, he'd be recording with Max Roach and making what many consider his finest work. This came before that — it's the before picture, and there's something honest about that.
Who's playing
Percy Heathdouble bass
John Lewispiano
Elmo Hopepiano
Gigi Grycealto saxophone, flute
Charlie Rousetenor saxophone
Lou Donaldsonalto saxophone
Clifford Browntrumpet
Art Blakeydrums
Philly Joe Jonesdrums
Where next?
More by Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown And Max Roach 1955
Study In Brown 1955
Jazz Immortal 1960
Brown and Roach Incorporated 1955
The musicians on this record
♫
Fontessa 1956
John Lewis
plays piano here
plays piano here
Vol. 2: Mission Eternal 1959
Art Blakey
plays drums (drum set) here
plays drums (drum set) here
Blues Walk 1958
Lou Donaldson
plays alto saxophone here
plays alto saxophone here
Kenny Drew Trio 1957
Philly Joe Jones
plays drums (drum set) here
plays drums (drum set) here
