Clifford Brown Jazz Fest / Wilmington (DE), USA

Our featured festival is The DuPont Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, now in its 24th year. The DuPont Clifford Brown Jazz Festival is a free, week-long, outdoor music festival held in the heart of downtown Wilmington, Delaware (USA). This year’s festival runs from June 18-24, 2012.

Clifford Brown was a trumpeter, whose life tragically ended early one summer morning in 1956. It was the result of a car accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which also claimed the life of promising young pianist Richie Powell. At 25, Clifford Brown had already left an indelible mark on jazz. He was poised to take his place among the premier jazz trumpeters of his time (Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, etc.).

There is scarcely a trumpeter in recent jazz history that has not been touched by the music of Clifford Brown. Clifford Brown was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1930, and quickly became one of the most influential jazz trumpeters of all time. He was blessed with imperious technique, astonishing warmth, and wonderful expressiveness of tone. In 1953, he joined the trumpet section of Lionel Hampton’s big band, and after a successful European tour, he stunned many when he then became co-leader of the infamous Max Roach-Clifford Brown Quintet.

The annual DuPont Clifford Brown Jazz Festival is a tribute to this great man and a way to keep his memory alive. It continues to be one of the more important jazz festivals in the Northeast United States.