At Basin Street (CD)

Although he died in a car accident at the tender age of 25, Clifford Brown was a major link in the evolution of the trumpet. He possessed dazzling technique, a beautiful tone, and creativity to match. Moreover, in addition to a handful of brilliant recordings, he left behind a number of compositions that have become part of the standard repertoire. Besides his numerous sterling sessions as a leader, he also contributed brilliantly on dates for Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, J. J. Johnson, and many more in the 1950s. While some legends become greater in death, in Brown's case the legend may not be great enough.

• Category:  Music  »  Jazz  »  Trumpet
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: August 7, 1990
• Label: Emarcy (USA)
• UPC: 042281464829
• WAPI (Tower ID): 106664319
• Average Customer Review: There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!
• Tower.com Sales Rank: #63771 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #5263 in Jazz (See Top 100 Jazz Bestsellers)
• #332 in Trumpet (See Top 100 Trumpet Bestsellers)

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Personnel: Clifford Brown (trumpet); Max Roach (drums); Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone); Richie Powell (piano); George Morrow (bass).

Producer: Bob Shad.

Recorded in New York, New York on January 4 and February 16, 1956.

Recorded mere months before Clifford Brown died in a car crash, 1956's AT BASIN STREET finds the revered trumpeter in top form, co-leading an ensemble with drummer Max Roach that included saxophonist Sonny Rollins and pianist Richie Powell (who was also killed in the accident). Morbid associations aside, this record is a vibrant hard-bop outing with Brown's amazingly agile horn lines always commanding attention even when compared to Rollins's robust sax work. Standout tracks include a swift, swinging rendition of "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" and the bright, uplifting take on "I'll Remember April."

When Clifford Brown and Max Roach passed through Chicago in the latter part of 1955, a pregnant Mrs. Harold Land wired her husband to come back home to Los Angeles; so Sonny Rollins filled the tenor chair. The rest would have been history, except that Clifford Brown and pianist Richie Powell perished in an auto accident the following summer. But AT BASIN STREET remains, marking Rollins' debut and documenting the emergence of the decade's most innovative small combo and three of its greatest solo voices.

Still, much of this band's enduring grace emanates from the charts and accompaniments of their underrated pianist, Richie Powell--Bud Powell's kid brother. He transforms a sappy popular standard such as "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" through the use of multiple meters, rhythm changes and radical harmonic plumbing, while the witty intro to his own "Gertrude's Bounce" parodies "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" before breaking into a spirited bebop line. Elsewhere, his punctilious phrasing is a studied contrast to the Olympian effusions of Brown, Roach and Rollins, and his varied vamps and shifting backgrounds give each piece big-band depth.

And what monumental soloing: "I'll Remember April," a standout on an album of classics, begins with Roach, Powell and bassist George Morrow in a sprightly Afro-Cuban vamp, before Brownie's glorious rendition of the head and Rollins' cunning reprise of the bridge. Brownie's crackling lyric variations over Roach's swift, brushfire beat are brimming with harmonic and rhythmic intricacies, while Rollins plays cat and mouse with the changes, creating tremendous tension. And Roach follows Powell's wonderful harmonic contrasts with a study in rhythmic architecture, before ushering Brownie and Rollins back in for some epic out choruses.

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