Track listing
- A1 Cherokee
- A2 Easy Living
- A3 Wail Bait
- B1 Minor Mood
- B2 Hymn of the Orient
- B3 Brownie Eyes
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2 Issues
- Release view [combined information for all issues]
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New Star on the Horizon [p] 33 rpm, Mono
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New Star on the Horizon Digital file
3 Reviews
The early 1950s were an interesting, if largely unsatisfactory, time for jazz. There had been a revolution in the 1940s with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie juggling all the ingredients of jazz into a new order. By the early 1950s there was a new generation of musicians, the disciples of Parker and Gillespie, who were trying to find their own voices. A few years later hard bop would bring a new, tougher aesthetic, but in the early 1950s the move was towards something more restrained, something cooler. Miles Davis was the iconic figure pushing towards the new style (although his interest in heroin seemed to have led to his abdication of the position through the early 1950s), but Clifford Brown was another imaginative force and it is interesting to compare him with Davis. This 10” album was Brown’s first release as solo leader – it was later collected on Blue Note’s 12” Memorial Album after Brown’s death, the final track being lopped off (all the tracks plus some alternative takes are on the CD reissue). The overall sound reminds me of Davis’s Birth of the Cool sessions: a certain richness in the horn sound, the layering of harmonies – but, of course, with only three horn players (Gigi Gryce on alto, Charlie Rouse on tenor, as well as Brown) it has a much smaller sound. John Lewis, one of the arrangers for the Miles Davis sessions, plays piano, so I wonder if he is also responsible for the arrangements, but I have seen no credits so I don’t know. The up tempo Cherokee well illustrates the influence of Dizzy Gillespie on Brown – and also shows that Brown’s technical virtuosity far surpassed Davis’s. The two ballads, Easy Living and Brownie Eyes (my favourite two tracks), lack the introverted intensity of Davis, but have their own gentler, kinder sensibility – if they were composing love poems, Brown would be telling of the beauty of his lover while Davis would be talking about the intensity of his love. The medium tempo numbers are the most similar to Davis, but lack Davis’s cool insolence: again Brown is warmer – I suppose you could say nicer. Brown is undeniably the finer trumpet player on any technical criteria, and perhaps the more likeable, but he lacks Davis’s startling originality. The two reed players, however, are less interesting: Gigi Gryce plays the alto like a disciple of Charlie Parker – nothing wrong with that, he is good, but not surprising; Charlie Rouse plays the tenor in much the same way – I think of Rouse as a player spellbound by Sonny Rollins, but this is before he was entranced by Rollins and seems to be trying to imitate an alto bebop style. Art Blakey is generally restrained, but when given the chance, on Cherokee and Hymn of the Orient, he whacks his drums with the gusto we should expect. Overall, for Brown’s playing and its overall sound, the album is one of the most interesting of the early 1950s.
Published
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A1
Cherokee
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A2
Easy Living
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A3
Wail Bait
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B1
Minor Mood
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B2
Hymn of the Orient
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B3
Brownie Eyes
Published
Clifford Brown -- fantastic, fantastic player. On this collection he makes the trumpet seem like god's gift to earth; like the very notion of a saxophone is just trying to keep up. Rouse and Gryce do a good job, but stacking yourself up against Brown is a tall order (Rouse is a good player, and I commend him for keeping up with Monk and being a part of some of his best recordings -- but he's never struck me as a particularly impressive player). Blakey and Heath provide a strong backbone. Even among a consistent set, 'Cherokee' and 'Easy Living' stick out as exceptionally enlightening.
But yes: immaculate trumpet playing.
But yes: immaculate trumpet playing.
Published
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Catalog
23 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024
3 Jan 2024
27 Dec 2023
13 Nov 2023
11 Oct 2023
13 Sep 2023
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A1
Cherokee
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A2
Easy Living
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A3
Wail Bait
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B1
Minor Mood
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B2
Hymn of the Orient
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B3
Brownie Eyes
10 Jul 2023
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A1
Cherokee
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A2
Easy Living
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A3
Wail Bait
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B1
Minor Mood
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B2
Hymn of the Orient
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B3
Brownie Eyes
4 Jul 2023
30 Jun 2023
26 Jun 2023
2 Jun 2023
27 Mar 2023
13 Mar 2023
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A1
Cherokee
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A2
Easy Living
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A3
Wail Bait
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B1
Minor Mood
-
B2
Hymn of the Orient
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B3
Brownie Eyes
11 Mar 2023
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