(b.  30 October 1930, Wilmington, Delaware, USA, d. 26 June 1956)

By his late teens Brown had attracted the favorable attention of leading jazzmen, including fellow trumpeters  Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Fats Navarro.  In the autumn of 1953 he was a member of the big band Lionel Hampton took to Europe. Brown then joined Art Blakey and in mid-1954 teamed up with Max Roach to form the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet. The quintet was quickly recognized as one of the outstanding groups in contemporary jazz and Brown as a major trumpeter and composer. On a rain-swept, early morning in June, 1956, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Clifford Brown, along with pianist Richie Powell, and Richie’s wife, Nancy (who was driving) was killed when their automobile hurtled over an embankment.  Fortunately for jazz fans, Brown’s own work persists in the form of his recordings almost any of which can be safely recommended as outstanding examples of the very best of jazz. Indeed, all of his recordings with Roach are classics. See the new book:  Clifford Brown : The Life and Art of the Legendary Jazz Trumpeter