Clifford Brown - Indiana (RARE Jam Session Recording!)

Recorded November 12, 1953 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Recorded by Chris Albertson, who recalls: "It was November 11, 1953, Hamp [Lionel Hampton] was in town to give two concerts at KB Hallen (Copenhagen) and I was running a jazz club called the Storyville Club (what else?). I told Timme Rosenkrantz that we would love to have some of Hamp's people down for a session after the last show. He felt sure that would be no problem, so we rented a larger place for the night - Forsvarsbrodrenes Hus which means House of the Defense Brothers - spread the word, and crossed our fingers. As it turned out, this was the Hamptons' 17th wedding anniversary, and Gladys had planned a big party at the Hotel Richmond, where the band stayed. The party was to commence around midnight, and Timme and I were the only outsiders invited. I guess the party was nice. I recall some huge ice arrangement and an enormous cake plus a grand entrance by Gladys, but I was unable to really enjoy it because I knew that a large group of people were anxiously awaiting my promised delivery of jazz stars for an all-night session. I recall running behind Time, trying to get him to arrange something, but his mind was on the musicians and the drinks. Finally, I managed to corner Hamp and extract from him a promise that some members of the band would come with me when the party was over. It was around 2 a.m. (actually November 12) that Gladys' romp finally began to fizzle out; the musicians were tired of looking at each other, word had spread about this jam session with plenty of Danish girls, etc. Three cabs (Volkswagen bus cabs) took us there, Lionel rode with me. He was just going to make a brief appearance. Being a gadget freak, even then, I was the first and, then, only guy in Copenhagen jazz circles to have a tape recorder. It was a large, heavy B&O (their first model) and I had already used it to record the Ken Coyler Band and even taken it to London where I taped Humphrey Lyttelton at 100 Oxford Street. The recorder was already at the place, set up for action. I don't remember everybody who came along, but the following were definitely there: Gigi Gryce, Clifford Brown, Anthony Ortega, Jimmy Cleveland, Quincy Jones, Clifford Scott and Hamp himself. Of the Danish musicians I recall Jorgen Ryg (trumpet) and Max Bruel (baritone sax) actually playing, but that awful drummer must have been Danish. I do recall that the pianist on the tape was also Danish, namely Jorgen Bengtson. There were actually two drummers on Indiana, the second one sounding considerably better than the first one, but both were probably Danish. The bass player was, I believe, Erik Moseholm. Hamp told me it was all right to record his men, but that I had to switch the machine off when he played. I merely closed the lid and have since confessed same to him. He is not heard on Indiana, however. All that remains to be said is that the session lasted until about 7 a.m., Hamp stayed the whole time, only one mike was used, there was no way I could monitor the balance, it's a miracle anything was recorded at all, and an even greater miracle that the tape didn't get lost during my nomadic days."

Added 15 May 2026