Bob Brookmeyer

Bob Brookmeyer
Brookmeyer (right) with Clark Terry at the Clearwater Jazz Festival, Florida, 1980s
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.
Genres	Mainstream jazz Cool jazz West Coast jazz Post bop
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, arranger, educator
Instruments	Valve trombone, piano
Labels	Impulse!, Mainstream, RCA, Verve
Associated acts	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 jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre, before rejoining Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band. He garnered 8 Grammy Award nominations during his lifetime.

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

Brookmeyer began playing professionally when in his teens. He attended the Kansas City Conservatory of Music, but did not graduate. He played piano in big bands led by Tex Beneke and Ray McKinley, but concentrated on valve trombone from when he moved to the Claude Thornhill orchestra in the early 1950s. He was part of small groups led by Stan Getz, Jimmy Giuffre, and Gerry Mulligan in the 1950s. During the 1950s and 1960s Brookmeyer played in New York clubs, on television (including being part of the house band for The Merv Griffin Show), and on studio recordings, as well as arranging for Ray Charles and others.

In the early 1960s Brookmeyer joined flugelhorn player Clark Terry in a band that achieved some success. In February 1965 Brookmeyer and Terry appeared together on BBC2's Jazz 625.

Brookmeyer moved to Los Angeles in 1968 and became a full-time studio musician. He spent 10 years on the West Coast, and had a serious alcohol problem. After he overcame this, he returned to New York. Brookmeyer became musical director of the Thad 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 the Netherlands, and taught at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and other institutions.