Bob Brookmeyer: Jack of All Trades, Master of Valves

m: Bob Brookmeyer, a Renaissance man among jazz musicians who died December 15, 2011, four days before his eighty-second birthday, will be remembered as many things: composer, arranger, musician, educator, outspoken arbiter who brooked no nonsense and wasn't shy about letting others know when he believed they were not giving the music he loved the best they had to offer. What I remember best about Brookmeyer was the lithe, ever-swinging valve trombone that complemented such luminaries as m: Stan Getz, m: Gerry Mulligan, m: Zoot Sims, m: Jimmy Giuffre, m: Clark Terry and others during the 1950s and 1960s, epitomizing his Kansas City heritage in a series of memorable albums that sound as fresh today as they did more than half a century ago...