''I Remember Clifford'' is a 1992 album by

Arturo Sandoval Arturo Sandoval is a Cuban-American jazz trumpeter, pianist, and composer. While living in his native Cuba, Sandoval was influenced by jazz musicians Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1977 he met Gillespie, who became his ...

, the second album he made after leaving his native Cuba. The entire album is a tribute to

Clifford Brown Clifford Benjamin Brown (October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He died at the age of 25 in a car accident, leaving behind four years' worth of recordings. His compositions "Sandu", "Joy Spring", an ...

, who was a great influence on Sandoval and who died in an auto accident in 1956, when he was 25 years old.

Title

The album is named for

, who was killed on June 26, 1956 in a car accident which also killed pianist

Richie Powell Richard Powell (September 5, 1931 – June 26, 1956) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He was not assisted in his musical development by Bud, his older and better known brother, but both played predominantly in the bebop style. ...

, and Powell's wife. Sandoval's written tribute to Brown in the liner notes for the album ends:

Everybody that I've spoken to, who knew Brownie, coincided in describing his heart and his simplicity as an artist. Modesty, feelings, dignity and virtuosity; not a bad legacy. ... It is with all my heart and soul that I offer this sincere effort to one of the greatest trumpet players of all time; a man who left his mark as a person and as an artist.

The album is named after the composition " I Remember Clifford", a

threnody A threnody is a wailing ode, song, hymn or poem of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. The term originates from the Greek word θρηνῳδία (''threnoidia''), from θρῆνος (''threnos'', "wailing") and ᾠδ� ...

Benny Golson Benny Golson (born January 25, 1929) is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a performer, before launch ...

, which was also written in memory of Brown. In addition to a rendition of the Golson piece (using only a trumpet and piano - a tribute to the two musicians who died together), the album contains a long list of Brown's best-known standards (some composed by Brown himself). One final inclusion is a new composition, "I Left This Space for You", written by Sandoval in tribute, in which Sandoval plays only a restrained melody. One very unusual feature, heard on five of the tracks, is the use of

overdubbing Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

to create a trumpet 'choir' of four harmonized trumpets, all played by Sandoval (a concept credited to Orlando 'Papito' Hernández, who had experience with multiple trumpets from his time playing with

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Alpert has recorded 28 albums that have landed on the ...

). The 'choir' is used to play arrangements of some of Brown's own solos; the different trumpet lines are closely synchronized. Sandoval's own playing features in his own solos, especially on "Cherokee", which he takes at a faster pace than Brown's own rapid original. The album received two nominations in the 1992 Grammy Awards ('Best Jazz Instrumental Performance - Individual or Group', and 'Best Arrangement on an Instrumental', for "

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

"). It was picked by critic

Leonard Feather Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...

as one of the ten best jazz albums of 1992.

Track listing

# "Daahoud" (Brown, 4:57) # "Joy Spring" (Brown, 5:42) # "Parisian Thoroughfare" (

Bud Powell Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Along with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie, Powell was a leading figure in the development of modern ...

, 5:57) # "

" (

Ray Noble Raymond Stanley Noble (17 December 1903 – 2 April 1978) was an English jazz and big band musician, who was a bandleader, composer and arranger, as well as a radio host, television and film comedian and actor; he also performed in the United ...

, 5:07) # " I Remember Clifford" (

, 4:11) # "The Blues Walk" (Brown, 6:45) # "Sandu" (Brown, 5:17) # "

I Get a Kick Out of You "I Get a Kick Out of You" is a song by Cole Porter, which was first sung in the 1934 Broadway musical ''Anything Goes'', and then in the 1936 film version. Originally sung by Ethel Merman, it has been covered by dozens of prominent performers, in ...

" (

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to ...

, 5:11) # "Jordu" (

Duke Jordan Irving Sidney "Duke" Jordan (April 1, 1922 – August 8, 2006) was an American jazz pianist. Biography Jordan was born in New York and raised in Brooklyn where he attended Boys High School. An imaginative and gifted pianist, Jordan was a regul ...

, 8:25) # " Caravan" ( Ellington,

Mills Mills is the plural form of mill, but may also refer to: As a name * Mills (surname), a common family name of English or Gaelic origin * Mills (given name) *Mills, a fictional British secret agent in a trilogy by writer Manning O'Brine Places Uni ...

, Tizol, 4:26) # "I Left This Space for You" (Sandoval, 5:53)

Personnel

Performers

* Arturo Sandoval – trumpet *

Kenny Kirkland Kenneth David Kirkland (September 28, 1955 – November 12, 1998) was an American pianist and keyboardist. Biography Early life Born in Brooklyn, New York, United States, Kirkland was six when he first sat down at a piano keyboard. After years ...

– piano *

Charnett Moffett Charnett Moffett (June 10, 1967 – April 11, 2022) was an American jazz bassist. Moffett began playing bass in the family band, touring the Far East in 1975 at the age of eight. In the mid-1980s, he played with Wynton Marsalis and Branford Ma ...

– bass * Kenny Washington – drums *

Ernie Watts Ernest James Watts (born October 23, 1945) is an American jazz and rhythm and blues saxophonist who plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone. He has worked with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and toured with the Rolling Stones. On Frank Zappa's ...

– tenor sax (tracks 1, 4, 7, 9, 10) * David Sánchez – tenor sax (tracks 3, 6, 8) *

Ed Calle Ed Calle (born ''Eduardo J. Calle'') is a musician from Miami, Florida. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Calle plays the saxophones, flutes, clarinets, EWI, and keyboards, engineers projects, and performs vocals. He also composes and arrange ...

– tenor sax (track 2) *

Félix Gómez Félix Gómez (born 1977) is a Spanish actor. He earned early success in Spain in the early 2000s for his performance in the television series ''Al salir de clase''. He is also known for his performances in ''Amar en tiempos revueltos'', '' 14 de ...

– keyboards (track 5) * Gary Lindsay – arrangements (except on track 9) *

Alberto Naranjo Alberto Naranjo ah-rahn'-ho(September 14, 1941 – January 27, 2020) was a Venezuelan musician. His mother, the singer Graciela Naranjo, was a radio, film and television pioneer in her homeland. Largely self-taught, Naranjo embarked on a simil ...

– arrangement (track 9)

Technical

* Rudy Perez – producer, recording and mixing engineer * Peter Beckerman – assistant engineer * Michael Bloom – liner notes coordination * Joseph Doughney – post-production * Ted Jensen – mastering * Michael Landy – post-production * Bo Post – album coordinator * Andy Roshberg – assistant engineer * Neil Tesser – liner notes * Adam Zelinka – post-production

Producers

* Cal Griffin *

Dave Grusin Robert David "Dave" Grusin (born June 26, 1934) is an American composer, arranger, producer, jazz pianist, and band leader. He has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record w ...

(executive) * Papito Hernández * Larry Rosen (executive) * Rudy Pérez

References

External links

Arturo Sandoval home page
* ''AMG'' review {{Authority control 1992 albums Arturo Sandoval albums GRP Records albums Clifford Brown tribute albums