Read an Excerpt
I Remember Clifford
By Margaret E. Brown Trafford Publishing
Copyright © 2014 Margaret E. Brown
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4907-4805-4
CHAPTER 1
On October 30, 1930, in the city of Wilmington, Delaware, a baby was born. This baby was later christened Clifford B. Brown.
The home into which Clifford Brown was born was a very happy one. There were eight children. Clifford's father was a very hard worker who tried to supply the family with the things that they needed. Mother Brown did everything that she could do to make a good home.
Many happy times were spent with the family gathered around the little piano in the living room. Mr. Brown loved music and had a number of different instruments that he liked to play. He would play little tunes, and the family would sing along with him.
Clifford loved to hear his father play the instruments that he owned, and at the age of eight years, he was allowed to play some of the instruments. Somehow Clifford took a fancy to the trumpet. He had watched his father play this instrument often, and one day he decided that this was the instrument that he wanted to learn to play. He taught himself how to finger the horn.
Clifford was determined to master the trumpet, and he knew the only way to accomplish this feat was to practice. This he did daily. He worked so hard that by the age of twelve, he was playing his trumpet with older musicians.
Even though he did a lot of practicing, he never forgot that he had his school work to do. He always wanted to do his very best in school. And he did, for he graduated from Howard High School in Wilmington, Delaware, with honors. He then entered Delaware State College and majored in mathematics. In 1949, he received a scholarship to attend Maryland State College. Here, he began his new studies in music.
Throughout these years, Clifford still maintained a strong desire to become a great musician. While attending Maryland State College, he was involved in an automobile accident. Unfortunately, he broke a leg. Even with this injury, he still continued to take an active part in music, always practicing each day.
During his stay at college, he met many famous musicians. He met such men as Fats Navarro, Max Roach, and Dizzy Gillespie. This was the beginning of the many recognitions that he was to receive.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from I Remember Clifford by Margaret E. Brown. Copyright © 2014 Margaret E. Brown. Excerpted by permission of Trafford Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
