At Basin Street [Live]

Clifford Brown, Clifford Brown & Max Roach, Max Roach | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1956
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B0000046NH
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #57,298 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. What Is This Thing Called Love

2. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing

3. I'll Remember April

4. Step Lightly (Junior's Arrival)

5. Powell's Prances

6. Time 5:06

7. The Scene Is Clean

8. Gertrude's Bounce

9. Flossie Lou

10. What Is This Thing Called Love

11. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing

12. I'll Remember April

13. Flossie Lou

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invest in Brown-Roach Inc., August 24, 2002

By 

George H. Soule (Edwardsville, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: At Basin Street (Audio CD)

Everyone who has real interest in jazz should have this album. This is the Brown-Roach Quintet with Sonny Rollins. If you have any interest in Clifford Brown but haven't heard him, this is the album that you need. Trumpet player Clifford Brown is, of course, brilliant--fast and lyrical--an improvisational giant on standards and originals. Brownie is pure, clean, elegant. And tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins complements him well. The versions of "What is this Thing Called Love" and "I'll Remember April" are particularly moving. The first begins begins with Brown and Rollins bobbing chaotically in Roach's insistent river of drums and evolves into brilliant solos by Brown, Rollins and Powell. The trades at the end of this song are simply brilliant. Throughout this album, Richie Powell's piano is an added bonus, and the album features three originals ("Powell's Prances," "Time", and "Gertrude's Bounce"). Never as recognized as his brother Bud, Powell is a truly lyrical pianist and a fluent improvisor. Bassist George Morrow provides a solid foundation and solos. Max Roach is, of course, the legendary drummer--controlled and tasteful where needed, explosive on demand. There are some fine drum solos on this live album, but they don't overshadow Brownie or Sonny Rollins. This is one of the finer bebop albums made.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the all time great quintets at their height., December 5, 2000

By 

"jazzfanmn" (St Cloud, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: At Basin Street (Audio CD)

The stars of this session from 1956 are Max Roach's drum work and the fleet trumpet of Clifford Brown. Brownie solos with a dexterity, technique, and imagination that rivals the great Charlie Parker. Roach matches Brown's technical and creative skill and adds a rumbling thunder in the form of his punchy accompaniment and distinctive sticcatto snare to tom rolls. Every solo these two men take is an event, never failing to amaze. Rounding out the quintet is a young Sonny Rollins on tenor, Richie Powell on piano, and George Morrow on bass. Rollins displays his burgeoning talent with a fine solo and exchanging with Brown on "I'll Remember April". Powell shows off his skills as an arranger by penning the arrangements for most of the tracks, as well as taking fantastic solos. His effort on "Powell's Prances" stands out. As, "At Basin Street" was the second to last album to be recorded by this quintet before Brownie, his wife, and Richie Powell were killed in a car accident, (the last is Rollins' "Sonny Rollins +4"), the music, complete with the obligatory alternates, becomes that much more precious. This is one of those albums that falls into the catagory of "obscure classics", and is worth hunting for.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A first and a last--and at least two standards of reference., May 29, 2007

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: At Basin Street (Audio CD)

It's been quite a while since I've listened to this album, but the ensemble choruses and solos still ring in my ears--"Love Is a Splendored Thing" (hardly a jazz vehicle but it works), "I Remember April" (perhaps rivaled only by Erroll Garner's on "Concert by the Sea"), "Gertrude's Bounce" (one of their most inspired bebop tunes--part jingle bells, part operatic melodic expansiveness). Everybody's favorite trumpet player demonstrates why he deserves to be, and Rollins brings a new kind of power, energy, and playfulness to the group.

Many listeners don't realize that this was Rollins' only album with Clifford and Max. The rest of the time it was the redoubtable Harold Land, as precise and melodic player as there was, one of the all-time greats despite his relative obscurity. He was a diminutive person with an edge but not a lot of power in his sounds. No doubt the swaggering, muscular Sonny provided much more firepower for the group's live performances and loosened up things in the recording studio with his sportive, motivic playing. But Harold Land's precision playing and unfailing melodic logic made for a tighter ensemble sound and more consistent solos--which is the reason I'd give the edge to "Study in Brown." On the other hand, "More Study in Brown" includes another take of "I Remember April" from this same session with Rollins," a version that strikes me as superior to the master take heard here.

Not only was this the end of the string for Clifford, but it's probably the last recording by Max Roach to have a major impact or enduring significance.