Clifford Brown (aka “Brownie”) was an American jazz trumpeter who rose to prominence and was highly rated. He lived from October 30, 1930, through June 26, 1956. Despite a short recording career that lasted only four years (due in part to his early death), he had a significant influence on jazz trumpet players such as Wynton Marsalis and Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard. In 1954, he won the Down Beat critics’ poll for the “New Star of the year”; in 1972, he was elected into the Down Beat’s “Jazz Hall of Fame”. Sandoval called him “one what we call the mandatory trombone players” and “one the greatest trumpet players ever”. Wilmington, Delaware (where Brownie is buried) hosts an annual jazz festival in his honour. The Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, sponsored by Citifest, is a free week-long event that takes place mostly outdoors at different locations throughout Wilmington. The festival is usually held the third week of June each year. Noteable websites are: The Clifford Brown Jazz Festival: http://www.cliffordbrownjazzfest.com Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Brown and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Brown_Jazz_Festival Brownie, the unofficial memorial website: http://cliffordbrown.net User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
