Valve trombonist and pianist Bob Brookmeyer was born on December 19, 1929 in Kansas City, Missouri. He began playing professionally in his teens and attended the Kansas City Conservatory of Music. He played piano in big bands led by Tex Beneke and Ray McKinley but concentrated on valve trombone 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 during the decade. During the 1950s and 1960s Brookmeyer was based in New York where he played clubs, on television (including being part of the house band for The Merv Griffin Show) and on studio recordings. He also worked as an arranger for Ray Charles and others.

Brookmeyer moved to Los Angeles in 1968 and became a full-time studio musician. He spent ten years on the west coast and developed a serious alcohol problem. After he overcame this he returned to New York where he became the musical director for the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra in 1979. Beginning in the 1980s Brookmeyer worked with several European jazz groups as both a composer and as a performer. He founded and ran a music school in The Netherlands and also taught at the New England Conservatory of Music.

In June of 2005, Brookmeyer joined ArtistShare and announced a project to fund an upcoming third album featuring his New Art Orchestra. The resulting Grammy-nominated CD, titled “Spirit Music,” was released in 2006. Brookmeyer was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in the same year. In all, he received eight Grammy nominations during his lifetime. Bob Brookmeyer passed away from congestive heart failure on December 15, 2011.

Here is a link to Bob Brookmeyer playing in a combo with Clark Terry:

"LIVE IN 1965"