I Remember Clifford Brown

He only lived 25 years.  Car crash on the way to Chicago from Philadelphia.  In some parallel universe, Clifford Brown lived another 50 years to make music and Miles Davis will always be compared to the man known as Brownie.  What's really eerie about this is when Clifford died in 1956, another great American artist, Jackson Pollock also died in a car crash that same year.  And when my 12 year old son, who had never heard any of Clifford's music says he likes this kind of jazz, you know the music is something special.  It had been a good music week when I found these two Clifford Brown CDs at Boo Boo Records in San Luis Obispo.  His first release Memorial Album (1953, Blue Note) and his last one, At Basin Street (1956, Verve) both kept me company during the drive back to Rancho Cucamonga yesterday afternoon.  Music this good is like a drug that opens up your mind.  Unfortunately, it is in limited supply as Clifford only released 4 years worth of music.

Speaking of Boo Boo Records, no visit to SLO is complete without a stopover.  Here's a nice article in Record Collector News.

http://recordcollectornews.com/2012/11/boo-boo-records/