#george-morrow — Public Fediverse posts

Joy Spring – Clifford Brown & Max Roach

This tune popped into my head when I was walking home this evening so after dinner I listened to my CD of the terrific 1954 album Clifford Brown & Max Roach, on which it first appeared. Trumpeter Clifford Brown wrote the tune Joy Spring when he was just 23 for his wife Larue and it became a jazz standard. This first version features a quintet jointly led by Brown and Max Roach on drums, together with hugely underrated tenor saxophonist Harold Land, Richie Powell on piano (younger brother of Bud Powell, whose influence you can hear in his playing) and George Morrow on bass. The whole album is great, but I think the standout tracks are this version of Joy Spring and their version of Duke Jordan’s tune Jordu. Brown’s solo on Joy Spring demonstrates his beautifully crisp articulation and his superb capacity for sustained melodic invention, moving into and out of double-time. He only plays two choruses, but packs so much into them. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnK6OHPQZbA

Despite it’s happy feel, this track will always be tinged with tragedy. Less than two years after this session both Clifford Brown and Richie Powell were killed in a car crash: Brown was 25 and Powell 24.

Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Study in Brown, 1955 on EmArcy

Brown and Roach are joined by Harold Land (tenor), Richie Powell (piano), and George Morrow (bass). Recorded Feb 23rd and 25th of 1955. Fantastic album.

My copy—via private sale—is the 2021 Acoustic Sounds Series reissue on 180g vinyl, supervised by Chad Kassem, cut by Ryan Smith, and pressed at Quality Record Pressing. As you’d expect, a flawless pressing.