Robert Edward "Bob" Brookmeyer (December 19, 1929 – December 15, 2011) was an American jazz musician who played the valve trombone, piano, arranged music, and composed songs. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Brookmeyer became well-known as part of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. Later, he worked with Jimmy Giuffre and then returned to Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band. He was nominated for eight Grammy Awards during his lifetime.

Biography

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

Brookmeyer began his professional music career in his teenage years. He studied at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music but did not complete his studies. He played piano in big bands led by Tex Beneke and Ray McKinley but focused on valve trombone after joining the Claude Thornhill orchestra in the early 1950s. He performed in small groups led by Stan Getz, Jimmy Giuffre, and Gerry Mulligan during the 1950s. In the 1950s and 1960s, Brookmeyer played in New York clubs, appeared on television (including as part of the house band for The Merv Griffin Show), and recorded music in studios. He also arranged music for Ray Charles and others.

In the early 1960s, Brookmeyer joined flugelhorn player Clark Terry in a band that became successful. In February 1965, Brookmeyer and Terry performed together on BBC2’s Jazz 625.

Brookmeyer moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1968 and became a full-time studio musician. He spent 10 years on the West Coast and struggled with alcohol addiction. After overcoming this challenge, he returned to New York. In 1979, Brookmeyer became the musical director of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, even though he had not written any music in a decade. From the early 1980s, Brookmeyer composed and performed with jazz groups in Europe. He started and managed a music school in the Netherlands and taught at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and other schools.

In June 2005, Brookmeyer joined ArtistShare and announced plans to fund a third album by his New Art Orchestra. The Grammy-nominated album, Spirit Music, was released in 2006. Brookmeyer was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in the same year. His eighth Grammy Award nomination was for an arrangement on the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra’s album Forever Lasting, shortly before his death. That album was also nominated for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. All the music on the CD was composed by Brookmeyer.

Brookmeyer died of congestive heart failure on December 15, 2011, in New London, New Hampshire.

Compositional style

One important part of Brookmeyer's music style is his use of modern classical music methods in his big band and jazz ensemble compositions. In the early 1980s, Brookmeyer learned from composer Earle Brown, and together they studied 20th-century classical music deeply. Brookmeyer's later works have been influenced by composers such as Witold Lutosławski (whose cello concerto Brookmeyer often used to teach students about simple musical ideas), Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, György Ligeti, and Béla Bartók.

Examples of 20th-century classical music techniques in Brookmeyer's jazz pieces include:

• "ABC Blues," which uses an unusual musical scale to create melodies and harmonies.
• "The Big Time," which uses multiple musical keys at once to develop melodies introduced earlier in the piece.
• In works like "Seesaw," "Silver Lining," and "Hello and Goodbye," Brookmeyer uses a smooth, step-by-step musical scale and groups of closely spaced notes throughout.

Discography

• Bob Brookmeyer Quartet (Pacific Jazz, 1954)
• Bob Brookmeyer Plays Bob Brookmeyer and Some Others (Clef, 1955)
• Happy Minors (Bethlehem, 1955) with Red Mitchell, Zoot Sims
• The Dual Role of Bob Brookmeyer (Prestige, 1956) – recorded in 1954–1955
• Tonite's Music Today with Zoot Sims (Storyville, 1956)
• Whooeeee with Zoot Sims (Storyville, 1956)
• Bob Brookmeyer Quintet (Vogue, 1956)
• Urso and Brookmeyer with Phil Urso (Savoy, 1956)
• Brookmeyer (Vik, 1957) – recorded in 1956
• Traditionalism Revisited (World Pacific, 1957)
• The Street Swingers (World Pacific, 1958)
• Jazz Concerto Grosso with Gerry 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 with Bill Evans (United Artists, 1959) – also released as As 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) – recorded in 1987
• Morning Fun with Zoot Sims (Black Lion, 1989)
• Electricity (ACT, 1994) – recorded in 1991
• As It Happened Vol. 1, with Roger Kellaway (Jazz Heritage, 1994)
• Paris Suite (Challenge, 1995)
• Out of This World with Metropole Orchestra (Koch Jazz, 1998)
• Old Friends (Storyville, 1998) – recorded in 1994
• New Works Celebration (Challenge, 1999) – recorded in 1997
• Together with Mads 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 with Kenny Wheeler (Artists House, 2003) – recorded in 2002
• Spirit Music with New Art Orchestra (ArtistShare, 2006)