Bob Brookmeyer And Friends

This somewhat obscure session was reissued on LP by Columbia in 1980. Valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer and tenor-great Stan Getz (who had played together regularly a decade prior) had a reunion for this date, performing five standards and three Brookmeyer originals. The young rhythm section (pianist Herbie Hancock, vibraphonist Gary Burton, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Elvin Jones) uplifts what would have been a fairly conventional (although high quality) bop date.

Bob Brookmeyer was long considered one of the top valve trombonists in jazz and a very advanced arranger whose writing was influenced by modern classical music. He started out as a pianist in dance bands but played 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 Jones/Mel Lewis orchestra (1965-1967), and became a busy studio musician. Brookmeyer was fairly inactive during much of the '70s, 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 wrote and occasionally recorded on his distinctive valve trombone, issuing Old Friends in 1998.

This four CD set comprises eight original, re-mastered Bob Brookmeyer albums originally released between 1958 and 1964, this pivotal jazz-man's glory years as an esteemed musician. Featuring too a virtual who's who of Brookmeyer's contemporaries from the era, this collection serves ideally well as the perfect starting place for those new to the great man's music, and as the ultimate go-to set for those already familiar.

Ubuntu Music is delighted to announce the signing of composer/arranger/instrumentalist Martin Sjöstedt & Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, for the release of a major big band project of original and interpreted compositions.

Big Band Bossa Nova is a 1962 album by saxophonist Stan Getz with the Gary McFarland Orchestra. The album was arranged and conducted by Gary McFarland and produced by Creed Taylor for Verve Records. Bossa nova means ‘new wave' or ‘new trend', and this album rode that wave, making No. 13 on the Billboard album chart in 1963 in the wake of the success of Jazz Samba (1962) and prior to the release of Getz/Gilberto (1964). Sandwiched as it is between the two classic albums of the era, it sometimes gets unfairly overlooked…

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