Bob Brookmeyer
Brookmeyer in a 1963 advertisement
Background information
Birth name	Robert Edward Brookmeyer
Born	(1929-12-19)December 19, 1929 Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Died	December 15, 2011(2011-12-15) (aged 81) New London, New Hampshire, U.S.[1]
Genres	Mainstream jazz,Cool jazz,West Coast jazz,Post bop
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, arranger, educator
Instrument(s)	Valve trombone, piano
Labels	Impulse!, Mainstream,RCA,Verve
Formerly of	Gary Burton,Bill Evans,Stan Getz,Jimmy Giuffre,Jim Hall,Gary McFarland,Gerry Mulligan,Lalo Schifrin,Clark Terry,The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra,Claude Thornhill,Zoot Sims

Robert Edward "Bob"Brookmeyer (December 19, 1929 – December 15, 2011) was an American jazzvalve trombonist,pianist, arranger, and composer. Born inKansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member ofGerry Mulligan's quartet^[2] from 1954 to 1957. He later worked withJimmy Giuffre,^[3] before rejoining Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band. He received eightGrammy Award nominations during his lifetime.

Brookmeyer was born on December 19, 1929,Kansas City,Missouri, United States.^[4] He was the only child of Elmer Edward Brookmeyer and Mayme Seifert.^[1]

Brookmeyer began playing professionally in his teens. He attended the Kansas City Conservatory of Music, but did not graduate. He played piano in big bands led byTex Beneke andRay McKinley, but concentrated on valve trombone from when he moved to theClaude Thornhill orchestra in the early 1950s. He was part of small groups led byStan Getz,Jimmy Giuffre, andGerry Mulligan in the 1950s. During the 1950s and 1960s, Brookmeyer played in New York clubs, on television (including being part of the house band forThe Merv Griffin Show), and on studio recordings, as well as arranging forRay Charles and others.^[1]

In the early 1960s, Brookmeyer joinedflugelhorn playerClark Terry in a band that achieved some success. In February 1965, Brookmeyer and Terry appeared together onBBC2'sJazz 625.^[5]

Brookmeyer moved toLos Angeles,California, in 1968 and became a full-time studio musician. He spent 10 years on theWest Coast and developed a serious alcohol problem. After he overcame this, he returned to New York. Brookmeyer became the musical director of theThad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra in 1979, although he had not composed any music for a decade. Brookmeyer wrote for and performed with jazz groups in Europe from the early 1980s. He founded and ran a music school in theNetherlands, and taught at theNew England Conservatory of Music inBoston, Massachusetts, and other institutions.^[1]

In June 2005, Brookmeyer joinedArtistShare and announced a project to fund an upcoming third album featuring his New Art Orchestra. The resultingGrammy-nominated CD, titledSpirit Music, was released in 2006. Brookmeyer was named aNational Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in the same year.^[1] His eighthGrammy Award nomination was for an arrangement from theVanguard Jazz Orchestra's album,Forever Lasting, shortly before his death.^[1] That same album was also nominated in the57th Annual Grammy Awards for the category of Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album; the CD was entirely made up of Brookmeyer's compositions.

Brookmeyer died of congestive heart failure on December 15, 2011, inNew London, New Hampshire.^[1][6]

One notable element of Brookmeyer's compositional style is his use ofcontemporary classical writing techniques in his works for big bands and jazz ensembles. In the early 1980's Brookmeyer was mentored by composerEarle Brown, with whom he explored20th century classical music in depth. Brookmeyer's works since have been influenced by such composers asWitold Lutosławski (whose cello concerto Brookmeyer used often in teaching students about simple motifs),Igor Stravinsky,Claude Debussy,György Ligeti, andBéla Bartók.^[7]

Some examples of 20th-century classical compositional techniques used in Brookmeyer's jazz pieces are:

• "ABC Blues", where anatonaltone row is used to generate melodies and harmonies.
• "The Big Time", wherepolytonality is used to develop melodies used earlier on in the composition.
• Bob Brookmeyer useschromatic harmony andtone clusters throughout such works as "Seesaw", "Silver Lining", and "Hello and Goodbye".^[8]

• Bob Brookmeyer Quartet (Pacific Jazz, 1954)
• Bob Brookmeyer Plays Bob Brookmeyer and Some Others (Clef, 1955)
• Happy Minors (Bethlehem, 1955) withRed Mitchell,Zoot Sims
• The Dual Role of Bob Brookmeyer (Prestige, 1956) – recorded in 1954-55
• Tonite's Music Today withZoot Sims (Storyville, 1956)
• Whooeeee withZoot Sims (Storyville, 1956)
• Bob Brookmeyer Quintet (Vogue, 1956)
• Urso and Brookmeyer withPhil Urso (Savoy, 1956)
• Brookmeyer (Vik, 1957) – recorded in 1956
• Traditionalism Revisited (World Pacific, 1957)
• The Street Swingers (World Pacific, 1958)
• Jazz Concerto Grosso withGerry Mulligan (ABC–Paramount, 1958) – play Phil Sunkel, recorded in 1957.
• They Met at the Continental Divide with Trombones Inc. (Warner Bros., 1959)
• Kansas City Revisited (United Artists, 1959)
• The Ivory Hunters withBill Evans (United Artists, 1959) – also released asAs Time Goes By (Blue Note LT series, 1981)
• Jazz Is a Kick (Mercury, 1960)
• Portrait of the Artist (Atlantic, 1960) – recorded in 1959
• The Blues Hot and Cold (His Master's Voice, 1960)
• Gloomy Sunday and Other Bright Moments (Verve, 1961)
• 7 x Wilder (Verve, 1961)
• Trombone Jazz Samba (Verve, 1962)
• Bob Brookmeyer and Friends (Columbia, 1965) – recorded in 1964
• The Bob Brookmeyer Small Band (Gryphon, 1978)
• Back Again (Sonet, 1979)
• Through a Looking Glass (Finesse, 1981)
• Oslo (Concord Jazz, 1987)
• Morning Fun withZoot Sims (Black Lion, 1989)
• Electricity (ACT, 1994) - recorded in 1991
• As It Happened Vol. 1, withRoger Kellaway (Jazz Heritage, 1994)
• Paris Suite (Challenge, 1995)
• Out of This World withMetropole Orchestra (Koch Jazz, 1998)
• Old Friends (Storyville, 1998) - recorded in 1994
• New Works Celebration (Challenge, 1999) - recorded in 1997
• Together withMads Vinding (Challenge, 1999)
• Holiday (Challenge, 2001) – plays piano
• Madly Loving You with the Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra (Challenge, 2001)
• Stay Out of the Sun (Challenge, 2003) - recorded in 2000
• Get Well Soon with New Art Orchestra (Challenge, 2003) - recorded in 2002
• Island withKenny Wheeler (Artists House, 2003) - recorded in 2002
• Spirit Music with New Art Orchestra (ArtistShare, 2006)

• List of jazz arrangers

• Bob Brookmeyer's website
• Record Company (Challenge Records International)
• Bob Brookmeyer atAllMusic
• Bob Brookmeyer discography atDiscogs
• Interview with Bob Brookmeyer
• Bob Brookmeyer (New York Times Obituary)
• Bob Brookmeyer Interview NAMM Oral History Library (1997)

• 1929 births
• 2011 deaths
• 20th-century American male musicians
• 20th-century American pianists
• 20th-century American jazz composers
• 20th-century American trombonists
• ACT Music artists
• American jazz bandleaders
• American jazz pianists
• American jazz trombonists
• American male jazz composers
• American male jazz pianists
• American male trombonists
• American music arrangers
• ArtistShare artists
• Challenge Records (1994) artists
• Cool jazz pianists
• Cool jazz trombonists
• DR Big Band members
• Impulse! Records artists
• Jazz arrangers
• Jazz musicians from Missouri
• Mainstream jazz pianists
• Mainstream jazz trombonists
• Musicians from Kansas City, Missouri
• New England Conservatory faculty
• Post-bop pianists
• Post-bop trombonists
• Verve Records artists
• West Coast jazz pianists
• West Coast jazz trombonists

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