RSS
Home
Berkeley's Jazzschool remembers trumpet titan Clifford Brown
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Clifford Brown's life and music will be celebrated this weekend at Jazzschool in Berkeley.
Clifford Brown is among the most indelible jazz stories from the music’s most indelible decade, the 1950s. The innovative trumpeter consciously eschewed the excessive drugs and alcohol that marked so many of his contemporaries’ lives but enjoyed only four years in the spotlight before dying in a 1956 car crash. Although he was just 25, Brown’s music lives on and his sound has influenced trumpeters from Lee Morgan to Wynton Marsalis.
Brown certainly had an impact on the five Bay Area trumpeters who comprise TRUMPETSUPERGROUP – Dave Scott, Mike Almos, Mario Guarneri, Erik Jekabson and Mark Inouye. Together with Adam Shulman (piano), Marcus Shelby (bass) and Micha Patri (drums), they will present a Brown tribute concert at 6 p.m. Sunday at Jazzschool in Berkeley. Clifford Brown Jr. will emcee the event.
That performance is just part of a weekend-long Brown celebration. The schedule gets under way at 2 p.m. Saturday with Jekabson and Olmos hosting a Brown symposium. That’s followed at 4 p.m. with Scott’s own Brown workshop for musician. Sunday’s events include a 4 p.m. presentation by Al Hood, a noted Brown scholar and associate professor of trumpet at the University of Denver.
The Jazzschool events offer Northern California jazz fans the opportunity to learn more about this seminal figure and enjoy some killer jazz in the process. Here’s what Scott had to say about Brown, Jazzschool and the weekend’s activities.
Question: Most jazz fans know Clifford Brown through his music and legacy. As a musician, however, what can you tell us about his playing? What innovations did Brown bring to jazz?
Scott: In the early 1950s, Clifford Brown was the jazz musician who, when you heard him, stopped you in your tracks and made you say, "Holy COW, who is THAT?" He had the biggest, warmest trumpet sound of them all, the most Herculean technique (except maybe Dizzy Gillespie) and the most beautiful, internally structured improvisational ideas. Clifford was like a pro ball player that went out and pitched a perfect game EVERY START and everyone would just shake their heads in awe. Today, his improvisational solos are transcribed and used by both jazz and classical trumpeters as virtuosic etudes for study.
Question: You will be leading a Brown workshop on Saturday. What can participants expect?
Scott: I'll pass out Clifford Brown lead sheets. We'll play Clifford Brown tunes together and everyone will do some soloing and get some feedback. We'll talk about how we can choose to make our solos sound more Clifford-like by embellishing scales and arpeggios like Clifford did.
My workshop will be a hands-on, "bring your instrument" event. Before my workshop, my TRUMPETSUPERGROUP colleagues Mike Olmos and Erik Jekabson will be doing a more demonstration-oriented playing symposium. They will demonstrate, in greater depth, how they listen to Clifford and address what they did to become the Bay Area's premiere virtuosic improvisers on trumpet.
Question: How did TRUMPETSUPERGROUP come about? Also, what challenges does such a trumpet-centric outfit present for an arranger?
Scott: I love the trumpet – it has a rich and noble history. The trumpet has been my mistress since I started playing it at the age of 10, back in my hometown of Ann Arbor, Mich. I wanted to have a group that blended my interest in jazz music and classical music. This exploration of the two genres together has been around since musician Gunther Schuller coined the term Third Stream in 1957. I also wanted to have a group that celebrated the possibilities of trumpet performance. I just love the players in my band, they all inspire me and they challenge me. Our goal is to elevate and elate those who come to hear us!
As an arranger, the key is to write so everyone does what they do best – Mike Olmos will usually be assigned the hardest bop, Erik will get the a cappella improvisation, Mario will get the "humanity in sound" of ballads, I'll take the high notes and put the concerts together and Mark Inouye – well, he can do it all. He is the principal trumpeter of the San Francisco Symphony and he does EVERYTHING at the highest level.
Question: You're also on the Jazzschool faculty. How long have you been associated with the school and what role do you feel it fills?
Scott: I started teaching at the Jazzschool in 2004. The school has dramatically expanded its reach just this year … Jazzschool became an accredited college, offering a four-year Jazz Studies degree. So now you have K-12 people there getting jazz instruction, amateur adults taking night classes and aspiring professionals. Amazing young jazz talent is budding there, talent that would have to somehow manifest itself in other ways if the Jazzschool wasn't there. It's great.
Want to keep up with the best in Bay Area jazz?
Subscribe to us: Have our jazz Examiner columns sent to your inbox. Click SUBSCRIBE TO EMAIL on the button above this column. It's free. (And we won't spam you or give out your information.)
Bookmark us: http://www.examiner.com/x-12458-Oakland-Jazz-Music-Examiner
Make us your home page, add us as a Favorite Examiner (see above), take us mobile at www.examiner.com/mobile.html
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
