Celebration: Remembering - a tribute to Bob Brookmeyer

My tribute to Bob Brookmeyer is up at NewMusicBox. As important as Bob is to me, I knew my own words would be inaquate to convey the full sweep of his career and the enormous influence he had on generations of musicians — so the piece also includes excerpts from interviews I conducted with Jim Hall, Bill Holman, Jim McNeely, Joe Lovano, Maria Schneider, and others.

Comments

[Richard Kamins]

1.

DJA,
Well done! Those of us touched by his music and writing truly appreciate knowing what Bob Brookmeyer meant to his students.

[Matt]

2.

A beautiful remembrance! Do you think that any of Brookmeyer's former students could explain some of his "repertoire of assignments," for those of us that missed the opportunity to study with him? Or did he tailor them too specifically for that to be possible?

[Fred Stride]

3.

I never met Bob Brookmeyer (I wish I had), but I have been listening to his music for the last 40 plus years, so it seems like I've lost an old friend.

I simply adored his charts with Thad and Mel, his own Gloomy Sunday recording, his 2 recordings with Mel Lewis and all of his recordings with his New Art Orchestra.

While his earlier compositions and arrangements are jaw droppingly good its his last recordings with his own band that really stand out for me. Brookmeyer seem to always be growing, moving ahead, in his compositional language. But in doing so he never rejected his musical past, but instead carried it all along as he searched for new things to say with his pencil. His continual striving to grow and still swing has served as a model for my own work.

Thanks Bob.

Darcy, thank you for a wonderful post.