One of the most influential groups of its time, the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet were in the Capitol Studios in Hollywood on August 2, 1954 recording their first album together for EmArcy Records. It was eventually released as a 10“ vinyl disc in December of 1954 that included five tracks including Parisian Thoroughfare which was recorded 72 years ago today. The album was titled merely ”Clifford Brown and Max Roach.“

At the time Parisian Thoroughfare was recorded by the quintet, trumpeter Clifford Brown was only 23 years old, but already had impressed many of the older jazz musicians who had heard him play. Brown was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1930 and attended both Delaware State University and Maryland State University. After being injured in an automobile accident in 1950 and was visited by Dizzy Gillespie who encouraged him to pursue a career in jazz. Before his association with drummer Max Roach, Brown also played with Art Blakey, Tadd Dameron and Lionel Hampton.

Max Roach is generally considered one of the most important drummers in jazz history. Born in North Carolina and raised in Brooklyn, he studied classical percussion at the Manhattan School of Music before embarking on a career that would see him performing with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Abbey Lincoln, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis and Coleman Hawkins, among others. During the 1960s Roach’s music often gave voice to the civil rights movement in America, including with his 1960 composition We Insist!

Roach invited Brown to form a group with him in early 1954. The lineup changed often in the early days, but finally included Harold Land playing tenor saxophone, Bud Powell’s brother Richie at the piano and George Morrow on bass. The tune Parisian Thoroughfare was written by Bud Powell and was first recorded by him in 1951. Other tracks on the original issue of the album include Duke Jordan’s Jordu, Delilah, a Victor Young composition and two Clifford Brown tunes, Daahoud and Joy Spring.

Here is a link to the recording of Parisian Thoroughfare from the album “Clifford Brown and Max Roach:”

"PARISIAN THOROUGHFARE"