Brown first recorded "Joy Spring" in a
studio session led by him on August 6, 1954, at
Capitol Recording Studios, in
Los Angeles, with
Harold Land (tenor sax),
Richie Powell (piano),
George Morrow (
bass), and
Max Roach (drums). They did two
takes – and . Six days later (August 12, 1954), at the same studio, Brown, as leader, recorded
Jack Montrose's arrangement of it with
Stu Williamson (
valve trombone),
Zoot Sims (
tenor sax),
Bob Gordon (
baritone sax),
Russ Freeman (piano),
Joe Mondragon (
bass), and
Shelly Manne (drums). That take has been issued on several albums, including
Jazz Messages (
Jazztone ),
Clifford Brown & Max Roach (
Pacific Jazz ), and
Jazz Immortal – Featuring Zoot Sims (1988;
Pacific Jazz ). Larue Anderson, before marrying Brown, had been a
classical music student at the
University of Southern California. Without any knowledge of jazz theory – and, in particular, without any knowledge of bebop articulations, phrasing, and the use of half-step progressions, tritone substitutions, and other musical features of the style – she had begun writing a thesis titled "Classics versus Jazz".
Max Roach, her friend who introduced her to Brown, took her aside and said: "Honey, the whole world is not built around tonic / dominant." He convinced her to the point that she became a jazz devotee. == Covers ==