Prolific jazz composer and swinging jazz trombonist Bob Brookmeyer died on 15 December.
Read Bob Brookmeyer’s obituary at The Guardian, Monday 19 December by John Fordham
Brookmeyer’s melodic elegance, advanced awareness of harmony and counterpoint, and his avoidance of the trombone’s more rustic tendencies, could have marked him out as special even in those few chamber-jazzy moments at Newport. But if he was a light-stepping virtuoso on a traditionally heavyweight instrument (he favoured the more precise, valve-operated trombone over its slide-activated sibling), Brookmeyer was much more than that. He was a composer and arranger whose work has inspired such contemporary big-band stars as Maria Schneider and the eclectic young Brooklyn “steampunk” bandleader Darcy James Argue, a successful commercial arranger, a skilful pianist and a much-respected teacher at the prestigious New England Conservatory. Read more >
From the New York Times, Sunday 18 December 2011 by Peter Keepnews
Bob Brookmeyer, who left a distinctive mark on jazz as a musician, composer, arranger and educator whose students included many of today’s leading jazz arrangers and bandleaders, died on Thursday in New London, N.H., four days before his 82nd birthday. Read more >
