Clifford Brown
Trumpet Solo on
Once In Awhile

About

Clifford Brown takes the sole solo on this recording, improvising for one and a half choruses on trumpet at approximately 75 BPM. Set within a ballad setting, the 32-bar AABA form and the key of E♭, the solo allows for nuanced, expressive phrasing. "Once in a While" is a ballad feature for trumpeter Clifford Brown from A Night at Birdland Vol. 1, the celebrated 1954 live recording by the Art Blakey Quintet. The band kicks into double time for Clifford's solo. The slow tempo creates space for expressive, carefully shaped phrases.

Clifford Brown was 23 to 24 years old at the time.