Delilah

Harold Land (tenor sax), Clifford Brown (trumpet), Richie Powell (piano), George Morrow (bass) and Max Roach (drums). From the album Clifford Brown & Max Roach (1954).

This album is one of the best exponents of the hard bop style. The announcement that Clifford Brown and Max Roach were recording together caused a wave of excitement in the world of jazz and everyone wondered what kind of bebop they would play. The last duo to really revolutionize music had been Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

Unfortunately, Brown died in a traffic accident in 1956. The album is a collection of the most sincere bop performances ever recorded. It was well received by critics and the themes “Daahoud”, “Joy Spring” and “Jordu” became jazz standards. It was described by the jazz critic Ben Ratliff as “one of the strongest studio albums up to that time.”

The double bass starts and is followed by the drums, piano and saxophone. Brown enters with his trumpet playing a melody that seems to be taken from a tale of the thousand and one nights. Land plays the bridge with his saxophone and when he starts his solo Roach supports him with a swing rhythm. His phrasing is clear and simple. Brown then interprets his solo with the confidence of a master who knows what he is doing. Sometimes his phrases are sharp and incisive and his discourse ends calmly. Now is Powell’s turn, who handles the piano with subtlety and understandable phrases. Brown comes back as a whirlwind exchanging four-bar solos with the drummer taking turns with Land. Then they leave Roach alone to express himself more extensively. To finish, Brown and Land re-expose the theme with the oriental sound.