Photo: Ufo Snake / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Every time I put on a Clifford Brown record, I'm struck by the same bittersweet feeling: this guy packed a lifetime of genius into four short years of recordings. He came out of Wilmington, Delaware, studied at Delaware State University, and by the time the bebop world caught up with him he was already leagues ahead — a trumpet voice so warm and melodically inventive that Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie both spoke of him with outright reverence. The fact that he was also a genuinely clean-living, drug-free musician in a scene drowning in hard times makes the story even more poignant. Standards like Joy Spring and Daahoud feel effortless, joyful, inevitable — and then you remember he was gone at 25 in a Pennsylvania highway accident in 1956. Jazz didn't just lose a player; it lost a whole future.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Clifford Brown
- Name (Japanese)
- クリフォード・ブラウン
- Reading
- くりふぉーど・ぶらうん
- Born
- October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Horse
- Origin
- Wilmington, Delaware, United States
- Occupation
- trumpeter / composer / jazz musician / musician
2. Background
- High school
- Howard High School of Technology
- University
- Delaware State University
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Clifford Brown born?
October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956.
Where is Clifford Brown from?
Clifford Brown is from Wilmington, Delaware, United States.
What does Clifford Brown do?
Clifford Brown works as trumpeter, composer, jazz musician, musician.
Trumpeter — see all → · Composer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.