Jazz / Cool, Post-Bop, West Coast Jazz
Bob Brookmeyer - Piano, Trombone (Valve)
Dave Bailey Drums
Jim Hall Guitar
Jimmy Giuffre Sax (Tenor), Sax (Baritone), Clarinet
Joe Benjamin Bass
Michael Cuscuna Reissue Producer
Nat Hentoff Liner Notes
Patrick Roques Reissue Design
Ralph Pena Bass
Richard Bock Producer
Ron McMaster Mastering
William Claxton Cover Design, Photography
Digitally remastered release containing the complete 1957 album Traditionalism Revisited, featuring Jimmy Giuffre and Jim Hall. As a bonus, three songs that complete the sessions which were absent from the original LP, as well as two rare live tracks recorded by Brookmeyer, Giuffre and Hall during a TV show have been added. Includes eight page booklet.
This Pacific Jazz album is a bit unusual. Bob Brookmeyer (on valve trombone and piano), Jimmy Giuffre (switching between clarinet, baritone and tenor), guitarist Jim Hall, either Joe Benjamin or Ralph Pena on bass and drummer Dave Bailey perform eight songs from the 1920s and '30s including some obscurities. While these selections have occasionally been revived by Dixieland and swing bands, Brookmeyer and his group use harmonies that were modern for the 1950s to update such tunes as "Louiaiana," "Truckin'," "Honeysuckle Rose" and even "Santa Claus Blues." Because the musicians have a respect for the older styles, they extend rather than break the tradition; the results are quite enjoyable. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
Bob Brookmeyer
Active Decades: '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: Dec 19, 1929 in Kansas City, MO
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Progressive Big Band, Cool, Post-Bop, West Coast Jazz, Mainstream Jazz, Progressive Jazz
Bob Brookmeyer has long been the top valve trombonist in jazz and a very advanced arranger whose writing is influenced by modern classical music. He started out as a pianist in dance bands but was on valve trombone with Stan Getz (1953). He gained fame as a member of the Gerry Mulligan quartet (1954-1957), was part of the unusual Jimmy Giuffre Three of 1957-1958 (which consisted of Giuffre's reeds, Brookmeyer's valve trombone, and Jim Hall's guitar), and then re-joined Mulligan as arranger and occasional player with his Concert Jazz Band. Brookmeyer, who was a strong enough pianist to hold his own on a two-piano date with Bill Evans, occasionally switched to piano with Mulligan. He co-led a part-time quintet with Clark Terry (1961-1966), was an original member of the Thad JonesMel Lewis orchestra (1965-1967), and became a busy studio musician. Brookmeyer was fairly inactive during much of the 1970s, but made a comeback in the late '70s with some very advanced arrangements for the Mel Lewis band (of which he became musical director for a time). Brookmeyer moved to Europe, where he continually writes and occasionally records on his distinctive valve trombone, issuing Old Friends in 1998. New Works Celebration appeared a year later, and in 2000 Brookmeyer issued Together.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
