This alternate take of "Joy Spring" from the 1954 sessions for the Clifford Brown & Max Roach self-titled EmArcy album provides a second look at one of Brown's most celebrated compositions. The ABCA-form tune in F major unfolds at essentially the same medium tempo as the issued version, but the soloists take entirely different improvisational journeys through its graceful changes. Harold Land opens with one chorus of tenor saxophone, his solo here offering a distinct counterpart to his work on the master take. Brown follows with two choruses of trumpet, and the comparison with his released solo reveals the extraordinary depth of his melodic imagination, as he crafts an entirely new narrative over the same harmonic terrain. Richie Powell contributes one chorus of piano, while Max Roach provides a drum solo that extends just beyond one chorus. The tune's enduring popularity as a jazz standard owes much to its memorable melody and satisfying harmonic motion, qualities that remain evident regardless of which take one hears. This alternate version, while perhaps slightly less polished than the issued master, possesses its own spontaneous charm and serves as further evidence of the remarkable level at which this quintet operated on any given take during these historic recording sessions.
