Clifford Brown, aka "Brownie", (October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956) was an influential and highly-rated American jazz trumpeter. Despite an abbreviated recording career of only 4 years duration (due to his early death), he had a considerable influence on later jazz trumpet players, including Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis, Nicholas Payton, Arturo Sandoval, and especially Valery Ponomarev.

He won the Down Beat critics' poll for the 'New Star of the Year' in 1954; he was inducted into the Down Beat 'Jazz Hall of Fame' in 1972 in the critics' poll. Sandoval described him as "one of what we call the mandatory trumpet players" who was "one of the greatest trumpet players of all time".

Wilmington, Delaware, (where Brownie was born and is buried), hosts an annual jazz fest in his honor. Sponsored by the cities arts commission known as Citifest, the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival is a FREE week long event held mostly in outdoor venues at various locations in Wilmington. The festival usually occurs the 3rd week in June of each year.

Noteable websites are:

The Clifford Brown Jazz Festival: http://www.cliffordbrownjazzfest.com

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Brown and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Brown_Jazz_Festival

Brownie, the unofficial memorial website: http://cliffordbrown.net

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