Joy Spring

"Joy Spring" is a 1954 jazz composition by Clifford Brown that became his signature work. The title was his pet name for his wife Larue.

This article is about the composition. For albums with the same title, see Joy Spring (disambiguation).
"Joy Spring"
Song by Clifford Brown and Max Roach
from the album Clifford Brown & Max Roach
ReleasedDecember 1954 (1954-12)
RecordedAugust 1954
StudioCapitol, Los Angeles
GenreJazz
Length6:52
Composer(s)Clifford Brown
Lyricist(s)Jon Hendricks

Early history

Brown first recorded "Joy Spring" in a studio session led by him on August 6, 1954, at Capitol Recording Studios, in Los Angeles, with Harold Land (tenor sax), Richie Powell (piano), George Morrow (bass), and Max Roach (drums). They did two takes – 10877-3 and 10877-4.[1][2]

Six days later (August 12, 1954), at the same studio, Brown, as leader, recorded Jack Montrose's arrangement of it with Stu Williamson (valve trombone), Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Bob Gordon (baritone sax), Russ Freeman (piano), Joe Mondragon (bass), and Shelly Manne (drums). That take has been issued on several albums, including Jazz Messages (Jazztone J-1281), Clifford Brown & Max Roach (Pacific Jazz CDP 7 46850 2), and Jazz Imortal – Featuring Zoot Sims (1988; Pacific Jazz CDP 7 46850 2).[3]

Larue Anderson, before marrying Brown, had been a classical music student at the University of Southern California.[4] Without any knowledge of jazz theory – and, in particular, without any knowledge of bebop articulations, phrasing, and the use of half-step progressions, tritone substitutions, and other musical features of the style – she had begun writing a thesis titled "Classics versus Jazz". Max Roach, her friend who introduced her to Brown, took her aside and said: "Honey, the whole world is not built around tonic / dominant." He convinced her to the point that she became a jazz devotee.[3][5]

Covers

In 1985, Jon Hendricks wrote lyrics to Brown's music and the song was performed and published by Manhattan Transfer on their album Vocalese with the title "Sing Joy Spring".

Filmography
1988: Let's Get Lost – "Joy Spring"
1999: Guinevere – "Joy Spring"

References
  1. "Clifford Brown" (Musician detail: B13509), The Jazz Discography Online (lordisco.com), Tom Lord (ed.); OCLC 182585494, 690104143. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  2. Clifford Brown Featuring Zoot Sims – Jazz Immortal on Discogs Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  3. Spellman, A. B. and Murray Horwitz (August 1, 2001). "Max Roach: 'Clifford Brown and Max Roach,'" NPR Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  4. "Kappa Kappa Alpha – Larue Anderson" (college yearbook entry with photo), El Rodeo (yearbook of the University of Southern California), Vol. 46 (1951), p. 317; OCLC 822063048, 910495447 (accessible via Ancestry.com).
  5. "Clifford Brown in Los Angeles," by Eddie Spencer Meadows, PhD; born 1939; Black Music Research Journal, published by the Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago and University of Illinois Press, Vol. 31, No. 1, Spring 2011, pp. 45–63; JSTOR www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/blacmusiresej.31.1.0045; OCLC 729620529, 6733333114, 778359559; ISSN 0276-3605.
  6. Stan Getz - The Dolphin on Discogs
  7. "Joy Spring (The Swinging Side Of Larry Coryell)" on Discogs.
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