Academic Major: Music Education (Band Track)
Title: I Remember Clifford: 4 years of influential Recordings
As a fourteen-year-old trumpet player, Clifford Brown's solo on the piece "Sandu" was the first transcription project I was ever assigned. While the solo itself is only forty-six seconds, it took Dr. Chisholm, my jazz teacher, three months to talk about the twenty-seven-measure solo. Why did we spend so long discussing this one solo? Clifford Brown plays extremely melodic solos that need to be studied by young jazz trumpeters-he is one of the best jazz trumpet soloists. Despite dying tragically at 25 in a car accident, Brown is still a name that continues to reappear in discussions of jazz improvisation and trumpet solo playing. This made me raise the question: why does Clifford Brown continue to be talked about today with only four years of recordings and what sets him aside from the rest of trumpet players of his time? I want to use the Presidential Scholarship as an outlet to gain a deeper understanding of my favorite trumpet player while simultaneously improving my own improvisat ional skills, knowledge of jazz history (a subject I do not have space for in my schedule as a dual-major), and my experience recording live music (a skill I have not learned in my curricular classes).
My concept for this project is to begin by researching the life and impact of Clifford Brown. I will use Lougheed's databases to gather as much information about Brown's life, his four years of recordings, the eras of his career, and most importantly his lasting impact on jazz trumpeters and the jazz community. I will use this information to create a selection of Clifford Brown's works that highlight the eras of his career and his most influential music. I will go to Crane's MADSTOP studio to record a quintet playing these selections while I play the "role" of Clifford Brown. Finally, my work will culminate in performing a lecture recital in which I would play these pieces in a recital hall while discussing the influence and background of each piece.