Four Classic Albums (Recorded Fall 1961 / Brookmeyer / Tonite's Music Today / The Blues Hot And Cold)

Using a rhythm section that Stan Getz had chosen for club dates, Steve Kuhn, Herb Pomeroy and Roy Haynes, Getz and Brookmeyer both show how they have developed since their last musical encounters. For "Brookmeyer", recorded in 1958, Bob wrote five of the eight selected numbers (and conducts) on an album that is divided into three distinct sections designed to showcase the full extent of Bobs talents as trombonist, pianist, writer and conductor. First a big band, second a medium size jazz group and thirdly a more serious undertaking featuring an eight man line up including Al Cohn on tenor, Al Epstein on baritone and English horn and Milt Hinton on bass. "Tonite's Music Today" teams Bob up with another great West Coast horn man, Zoot Sims accompanied by Hank Jones, Wyatt Reuther and Gus Johnson. If you haven't heard the work of Bob and Zoot this album serves as a great introduction to them! Finally "The Blues Hot & Cold" features the Bob Brookmeyer Quartet with Jimmy Rowles on piano, Mel Lewis on drums and Buddy Clark on bass. The album is a fine showcase for the varied talents of Bob Brookmeyer as trombonist, pianist and arranger. It is both hot and melodic jazz with an overall sense of structure and as the liner notes state a reminder that at the core of jazz is the improvised solo and that Bob Brookmeyer has grown into "one of the most maturely……and expressive of all modern trombonist".