Album Spotlight: Study In Brown

I first heard Clifford Brown’s trumpet playing when I was in high school.  My trumpet teacher, Frank Eisenreich was also my high school’s jazz band director and one day he played us the version of “Cherokee” that is on Clifford’s album “Study In Brown.”  At the time, a kid of 15 or 16, I naively thought that I was getting pretty good on the trumpet.  But when I heard Clifford’s break on the beginning of that solo, and then what came after it, I realized what was really possible on a trumpet and that I was in no way capable of playing anywhere near that level.  I remember listening to that album a little bit, but I think I was actually scared of it.  Maybe because it was a reminder that I didn’t know shit about shit and perhaps wasn’t the trumpet player I thought I was. 

Flash forward a few years.  1993.  I’m a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania.  My roommate Steve, lucky for me, turned out to be a great person and friend, and also a musician and music freak like me.  Steve was hip to this (not so) new technology called the compact disc.  I, on the other hand, for some backwards reason, thought that CDs were a passing fad and I was content to own all my music on cassette or LP.  Well Steve convinced me to go music shopping.  Down to Third Street Jazz and Rock (RIP).  That fall day in 1993 I bought my first CD, Clifford Brown’s “Study In Brown.”  To this day it is still one of my favorites.  And I would recommend it to anyone.

Ever heard someone recommend Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” to people who don’t know jazz but want to buy an album but don’t know what to get?  Well that album is certainly one of the best albums ever recorded, regardless of genre.  And I would certainly recommend it to people.  But for some reason, I feel like it’s not really all that representative of “jazz” like some other albums might be, and maybe therefore is not a great “jazz primer.”  Trane is so deep and can confuse people.  Miles and Bill Evans are moody.  Really, the album as a whole is moody.  Whereas “Study In Brown” is just straight ahead, no nonsense jazz.  Yeah the arrangements are thought-out and deliberate and often deceptively intricate, but the music is what it is: swinging and badass.  The front line of Clifford Brown and Harold Land is classic.  Both play virtuosically but not at the expense of swing or phrasing.  Clifford’s solos are a work of sonic architectural mastery.  But even if you don’t recognize that (and most non-jazz-aficionados wouldn’t), they still feel good. Max Roach’s playing is a study in percussive spontaneous composition.  He’s as melodic as any horn player.  And for fast tempos, you can’t get much better.  Bud’s little brother Ritchie Powell sounds a little Horace Silver-ish at times which gives the band a nice funkiness.  And George Morrow (who else did he play with??) on bass has a beautiful tone and down-the-middle drive that glues everything together.  They are an amazing band.  Plus, all of the tunes, standards and originals, are all singable.  It really is a great primer into the world of jazz.

But that’s not what I like about this album.  I like “Study In Brown” so much because each time I listen I hear something new.  And I get inspired.  That’s Clifford’s lasting legacy.  Inspiration.  History tells us that he was a good, clean-living person who died way too young through no fault of his own.  His was one of the saddest and most senseless losses in all of jazz.  But his music, his trumpet playing, his sound, his compositions, his clarity of purpose – those things are inspirational.  You don’t want to put the horn back in the case and give up.  You want to try again.  Maybe in the hopes of being able to play like him.  Tough goal to shoot for.  Clifford set the bar ridiculously high.  He had everything – a beautiful, huge sound in all registers, the most amazingly concise articulation, power and endurance, frightening speed, lyricism, an ability to thread changes (king of the wrap-around) like no one else before him (and not many since), a unique compositional gift.  And he swung at all tempos.  He could burn you at 300 bps or melt you on a ballad or get you feeling good on a blues.  The complete package.  It’s all on display on “Study In Brown.”  You gotta get it!

Illinois trumpet Jeff Helgesen has a nice collection of Brownie articles on his site.  And Nick Catalano has written the only full-length biography on Clifford.  At times it’s a little like reading really long liner notes but it’s still a fun read.

Practicing: Schlossberg

One of the trumpet method books I’ve had the longest is still one of my favorites:  Max Schlossberg’s “Daily Drills and Technical Studies.” 

Schlossberg was educated in Russia but came to the US around the turn of the 20^th century.  He played for the New York Philharmonic but he is best remembered as maybe the first great “American” trumpet teacher.  His students were a who’s who of the (mostly classical) trumpet world.  And then many of his students became legendary teachers too.  I’m certainly partial to this book, maybe because I got it from my trumpet teacher, Frank Eisenreich (Pittsburgh – more on Mr. E in a future post) about 20 years ago.  I think I also really like this book because it works.  Whenever I’ve had time off of the horn for whatever reason, illness, kids being born, vacation, etc., I know that a few days spent with Mr. Schlossberg will always get me back to where I need to be. 

When I was a kid I really only played the slurs in the beginning of the book.  They are great slurs, for sure, but I think that I was missing the point of the book.  Schlossberg divided the book into sections and practicing a few exercises in each of these sections is the true key to getting the most out of this book.  In fact, on days when there is just isn’t much time to practice that much, or for those days when you have a long hard gig ahead of you, playing 30 -45 minutes of smart practicing (plenty of rest in between exercises) out of the Schlossberg book can cover almost all the bases you need.  It really is a great method.  You just need to know what you need to work on and you need to use some common sense so you don’t overextend yourself (especially if you are trying to get back into shape – pacing is key so you don’t tear down the tissue you are trying to build up). 
Here’s an example routine of how you could break this book down:

Section I: Long Note Drills
(he says long note yet most of these are slurs.  I think the idea is to play “through” the notes, keep the air moving as if it was one long note)

#2

#15

#27

#34

Section II: Intervals

#40

#42

  

Section III: Octave Drills

#49

#53

Section IV: Lip Drills

#59 and #60

Section V: Chord Studies

#70 (can be played tongued or w/slur combinations)

#76

Section VI: Scales

#90 and #91 (for #91 proceed down in half steps to low F#)

 

#99 (you can also use minor scales)

Section VII: Chromatic Scales

 

#119

#121

 

Section VIII: Etudes

#130

(I like this one, #130. Plus it’s pitched fairly low and at this point I’m getting tired.  Play it tongued [single, K, double] or slurred in different combinations).

So you can see that this book really does cover all the bases of trumpet playing.  I’m not a high note guy at all, but this book has exercises that go higher than the ones I normally choose; and, like any other book, you can always extrapolate higher and higher if you are so inclined (and gifted). 

If you play trumpet then you probably already have this Schlossberg book in your library, but maybe check out using it this way - as maintenance when you don't have much time; or as a quick way to get back in shape.  If you don’t have it, then you need to get it :)  It’s a pretty special text.

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P.S. - Wanna get real nerdy with some Schlossberg and a little Schlossberg drama? http://www.trumpetguild.org/pdf/2009journal/200906SchlossbergOnline.pdf