RIP Bob Brookmeyer

[Alyn_Shipton]

Sad news that Bob died yesterday. I hope there'll be a chance to repeat the Jazz Library we did together. More details http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2011/...ob-brookmeyer/

[geofflikesmusic]

this is very sad news indeed.

Thanks Bob for blessing us some of the nicest trombone music ever recorded.

[Serial_Apologist]

RIP Bob

Here's a track that will I trust unite many from here in a lovely tune to remember him by

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fgoFCEpkd0

[geofflikesmusic]

RIP Bob

Here's a track that will I trust unite many from here in a lovely tune to remember him by

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fgoFCEpkd0

For those that have spotify, here's a link to the album, which is featured in Serial Apologist's link.

http://open.spotify.com/album/12JCMQ79q662srkjDGoe02

[charles t]

Thank you for posting the sad news of Bob's passing, Alyn.

Bob Brookmeyer was known here locally as a cut-up...I remember hearing a local DJ, perturbed at receiving what she thought to be a crank call, live on air, exclaiming:

"Is that you, Brookmeyer?"

Also hearing Bob up at Stanford Jazz Festival a few years or so ago, commenting after the break:

"You know before at this kind of thing, when we would go back stage to relax, there would be a table full of booze.

Now there's just carrot juice and that kind-of stuff!"

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

GERRY MULLIGAN QRT - Paris Concerts (with Bob Brookmeyer)

Recorded live at Salle Pleyel, Paris, France on June 1 & 3, 1954. Includes liner notes by Claude Carriere.

"During a 1954 trip to Europe Gerry Mulligan played several concerts in Paris at the Salle Pleyel to enthusiastic crowds, excerpts from which are heard on this CD and a second volume, issued separately. The baritone saxophonist is joined by one of his most stimulating musical partners, valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer; the quartet's rhythm section includes bassist Red Mitchell and drummer Frank Isola (who sticks to brushes). Mulligan does his best to introduce most of the tunes in halting French to the appreciation of the audience. Mulligan and Brookmeyer work magic together as they alternate between taking the lead and providing backgrounds for one another, while also engaging in some terrific counterpoint. The set includes standards, classic jazz tunes and Mulligan's originals, all of which delight the audience."

ONE OF THE formative records in MY early jazz listenings. JUST GLORIOUS.

VERY Prickly guy to meet and talk to! But totally genuine.

RIP.

BN.

AND a very fine pianist...ck/out "Ivory Hunters" with Bill Evans.

[gurnemanz]

GERRY MULLIGAN QRT - Paris Concerts (with Bob Brookmeyer)

Recorded live at Salle Pleyel, Paris, France on June 1 & 3, 1954. Includes liner notes by Claude Carriere.

ONE OF THE formative records in MY early jazz listenings. JUST GLORIOUS.

VERY Prickly guy to meet and talk to! But totally genuine.

RIP.

BN.

AND a very fine pianist...ck/out "Ivory Hunters" with Bill Evans.

I must confess that this is the only work of his which I know. The Paris concerts are on the Gerry Mulligan Proper Box and marvellously enjoyable the sessions are with the unusual baritone sax/trombone working surprisingly well.

[Alyn_Shipton]

In our Jazz Library interview, Bob did tell me that he'd just resigned from the Mulligan quartet when they played the Salle Pleyel. I think the underlying personal tension is one reason the band came on stage firing on all cylinders... Things were a bit better when he rejoined GM, but then a different set of tensions arose during the Concert Jazz Band era.

[Ian Thumwood]

It is curious to see how the comments regarding the sad passing of Bob Brookmeyer on this board very much seem to anchor his work within the mainstream / modern world of 1950's jazz. My first acquaitance with Brookmeyer's music was on a Verve LP with Getz and this was the first disappointing experience I had when I started to explore the post-Bird jazz as a 17 year old - the trombonist being the one redeeming feature of the record. The whole LP was really underwhelming and it was only when I heard Humph play tracks from "Traditionalism Re-visited" that I started to appreciate Brookmeyer's work more fully. This is a brilliant record. The trio with Guiffre and Jim Hall would also have to be singled out for praise. Not difficult to link both Guiffre's and Brookmeyers future exploration into the avant garde , with Guiffre opening up the doors to free improv and Brookmeyer a more strident and progressive style of writing which helped redefine what big band jazz meant.

That said, I think that Bob Brookmeyer's genius really lies with his ability as a composer even though I do appreciate the furry tone of his valve trombone. Starting with the brilliant Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz band, BB started to mark himself as a serious jazz composer so that by the time he was writing charts for the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra in the late 60's he'd progressed from a technical point of view from the current vogue of writing typified by Gil Evans. As great as Gil was at conjuring up a unique "sound worlds" that few could rival, the more technically assured Brookmeyer seemed to offer new directions and opportunities so that by the time I encountered his arrangements payed by the BBC Big Band in the late-80's he was writing charts that were shockingly creative, not afraid to utilise disonnance and created much longer forms that I felt were hugely exciting. No other music pl;ayed by the BBC matched these scores in terms of being "progressive." Check out a record like "Electricity" and you can fully appreciate the wholly contemporary world that Brookmeyer had embraced musicially. I once asked a musician form the Vanguard Orchestra what he thought about Bob Brookmeyer and the response was full of respect coupled with a comment that "he thinks like a teenager and is always looking for something new." It should be no surprise that he was a guru figure for today's most advanced composers such as John Holllenbeck, Darcy James Argue and Maria Schneider and the newspaper article above is totally correct to point this out. Small wonder that Brookmeyer appeared so hostile to "retro" jazz musicians like Wynton Marsalis.

Whilst there are many facits to his work which seemed to make it possible to emarace both "Traditional" jazz , Mainstream/ Modern jazz and even contemporary classical music in his output, I would strongly argue the case that it is the work he produced as a composer since the 1960's where his true genius and merit lies. This was his greatest gift to the history of jazz. Although the nostalgic / rose-tinted perception of the work with Getz seems to have enjoyed more appeal with the jazz fans of this board, the comment about Brookmeyer looking to abandon jazz for a career as a Classical Composer is not at all surprising and is perhaps more indicative of what he was about. He had very much outgrown the musical language typified by the likes of stan Getz. There are very few jazz musicians from the 1950's "Modern Jazz boom" of the 1950's that have continually sought to experiment in to the 21st Century and whilst Miles was justly celebrated for shedding his musical skin throughout his musical career in order to maintain the creative impulse, the fact that Brookmeyer has done exactly the same without prostituting his work with "pop" influences is much to his credit. In my opinion, Bob Brookmeyer was as relevant as a jazz musician in 2011 as in 1954 (to arbitarily take the date of the Getz recording) and has probably done more than anyone else in jazz to foster so many other writing / composing careers within the last twenty years that will ensure that his legacy will continue to live on for many decades to follow.

[MarkG]

A repeat of the Brookmeyer Jazz Library would be a great idea

[charles t]

Also an obit from the L.A. Times with an additional focus on Bob Brookmeyer's later compositional contributions, etc.:

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-bob-brookmeyer-20111219,0,4434671.story

[Alyn_Shipton]

The Brookmeyer JL will be repeated in February.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

good news indeed Alyn thanks ...

[MarkG]

On tomorrow's JRR:

Stan Getz & Bob Brookmeyer — Minuet Circa ’61
Composer: Bob Brookmeyer Performers: Stan Getz (sax) Bob Brookmeyer (tp) Steve Kuhn (p) Roy Haynes (d) John Neves (b) Recorded: 12 – 13 September 1961

Stan Getz - Bob Brookmeyer 1961, Verve VLP 9004, S1/1