Early history
Brown first recorded "Joy Spring" in a studio session he led on August 6, 1954, at Capitol Recording Studios, in Los Angeles; with him on the session were Harold Land (tenor saxophone), Richie Powell (piano), George Morrow (bass), and Max Roach (drums). They made two takes: 10877-3 and 10877-4.
Six days later (August 12, 1954), at the same studio, Brown, as leader, recorded Jack Montrose's arrangement of the song, with Stu Williamson (valve trombone), Zoot Sims (tenor saxophone), Bob Gordon (baritone sax), Russ Freeman (piano), Joe Mondragon (bass), and Shelly Manne (drums). This take was issued on several albums, including Jazz Messages (Jazztone J-1281), Clifford Brown & Max Roach (Pacific Jazz CDP 7 46850 2), and Jazz Immortal – Featuring Zoot Sims (1988; Pacific Jazz CDP 7 46850 2).
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, a 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.