Brookmeyer was born on Dec. 19, 1929, in Kansas City, Mo., the only child of Elmer Edward Brookmeyer and the former Mayme Seifert. He began playing music professionally as a teenager and attended the Kansas City Conservatory of Music, but left before graduating
Brookmeyer played piano with the big bands of Tex Beneke and Ray McKinley, but switched his focus to valve trombone when he was with the Claude Thornhill orchestra in the early 1950s.
While active on the New York jazz scene in the 1950s and ’60s, Brookmeyer was also busy in the city’s television and recording studios. He was in the house band for “The Merv Griffin Show” and wrote arrangements for Ray Charles and others. He abandoned the uncertainties of the jazz life for the financial security of full-time studio work after moving to Los Angeles in 1968.
In the 1960s he also worked as a studio musician, co-led a quintet with Clark Terry and worked in and wrote for the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. In 1980 this band recorded an album of his compositions/arrangements on which two tracks featured Terry.
During his decade on the West Coast he struggled with a serious drinking problem and, after overcoming it, briefly considered quitting music to become an alcoholism counselor. Instead, in 1978, he returned to jazz, and to New York.
Brookmeyer’s primary instrument was an unusual one: the valve trombone, played with valves like a trumpet’s rather than a slide. His big, blurry sound and graceful style were an integral part of small groups led by the saxophonists Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan and the clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre in the 1950s, as well as a popular quintet he co-led with the trumpeter Clark Terry in the 1960s. He was also an occasional pianist, good enough to have held his own on a two-piano album with a master of that instrument, Bill Evans, in 1959.
But he was best known for his writing, especially his arrangements for big bands, which at their best captured the spirit of past masters like Duke Ellington and Count Basie while remaining thoroughly contemporary. His charts in the 1960s for Mulligan’s Concert Jazz Band and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra helped invigorate the big-band genre at a time when many critics considered it moribund. He later expanded his palette to include ideas from modern classical music.
After a period in Europe, he returned to the United States, where he continued to write and record. Bob Brookmeyer also taught jazz composition at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
He was a highly respected teacher, at the New England Conservatory of Music and elsewhere, including a music school he founded and ran for several years in the Netherlands. Many of the best-known members of the current generation of bandleaders consider him a mentor, among them Maria Schneider, who studied under him at the New England Conservatory.
In June 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 summer 2006.
Brookmeyer, who lived in Grantham, N.H., was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2006. He recently received the eighth Grammy Award nomination of his career (none of the previous seven had resulted in a victory) for an arrangement from the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra’s album Forever Lasting.
In September 2011, possibly his last recording Standards was released. It features the New Art Orchestra with vocalist Fay Claassen.
He died December 15, 2011.
A Felicidade
Bob Brookmeyer Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
God tell me, tell me this isn't real
I can't believe all that I have foreseen is finally happening
I cannot for a single second stand the way I feel
I always knew, I always saw it coming
Enveloped now, encased by my worst fear
I've never felt the nausea of longing to feel nothing
I never wanted to cease to exist, just disappear
Never have I felt so lost
Fear tragedy is all that lies ahead
Never have I felt so dead
Once felt so warm now I'm fucking freezing
I am the once embraced abandoned one
I raised my eyes up to the light in hopes of finding healing
No relief was mine, I was burnt by the sun
Fear memories are all that lie ahead
Never have I felt so lost
Fear tragedy is all that lies ahead
Never have I felt so dead
I feel so
I feel so lost
I feel so lost
I feel so lost
Fear memories are all that lie ahead
Never have I felt so lost
Fear tragedy is all that lies ahead
Never have I felt so dead
Fear memories are all that lie ahead
Never have I felt so lost
Fear tragedy is all that lies ahead
Never have I felt so
The lyrics of this song by Bob Brookmeyer express a deep sense of fear, loss, and hopelessness. The singer is struggling to come to terms with a tragic event that they have foreseen but failed to prevent. They call out to God for comfort and guidance, but feel overwhelmed by their emotions and the sense of impending doom. The lyrics depict a sense of isolation and abandonment, as the singer feels like they are the only one experiencing this pain and that they have been left behind by those they trusted.
The song speaks to universal themes of fear, loss, and despair that many people can relate to. It emphasizes the importance of facing and dealing with our emotions, even when they are difficult, in order to find healing and move forward. The repetition of the phrase "Fear memories are all that lie ahead" emphasizes the idea that our past traumas can continue to haunt us if we don't actively work to confront them.
Overall, A Felicidade is a powerful and emotional song that speaks to the human experience of pain and healing.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh my God, my God this can't be happening
I cannot believe what is happening, please tell me it isn't real
God tell me, tell me this isn't real
Please reassure me that this is not happening, I cannot accept it
I can't believe all that I have foreseen is finally happening
Everything that I had predicted has come true, and it's hard to process
I cannot for a single second stand the way I feel
The emotions I am experiencing are unbearable and overwhelming me
I always knew, I always saw it coming
I had a feeling about this and was mentally prepared, but it still hurts
Enveloped now, encased by my worst fear
I am completely surrounded by the worst possible outcome
I've never felt the nausea of longing to feel nothing
I have never had the desire to completely shut down and cease to exist
I never wanted to cease to exist, just disappear
I don't want to die, but I wish I could escape and be invisible
Fear memories are all that lie ahead
I am afraid of what the future holds, and my mind is filled with negative memories
Never have I felt so lost
I am completely directionless and uncertain of what to do next
Fear tragedy is all that lies ahead
I am worried that only more terrible things are in store for me
Never have I felt so dead
I am emotionally numb and drained, and feel like a walking corpse
Once felt so warm now I'm fucking freezing
I used to feel comfort and warmth, but now I am experiencing extreme coldness and distance
I am the once embraced abandoned one
I used to have support and love, but now I feel alone and forgotten
I raised my eyes up to the light in hopes of finding healing
I looked to a source of hope and help, but it ended up hurting me further
No relief was mine, I was burnt by the sun
I did not find any solace, instead I was hurt by the very thing I thought could help me
I feel so lost
I am completely adrift and bewildered
Fear memories are all that lie ahead
I am afraid of what the future holds, and my mind is filled with negative memories
Fear tragedy is all that lies ahead
I am worried that only more terrible things are in store for me
Never have I felt so dead
I am emotionally numb and drained, and feel like a walking corpse
Never have I felt so lost
I am completely directionless and uncertain of what to do next
Fear memories are all that lie ahead
I am afraid of what the future holds, and my mind is filled with negative memories
Fear tragedy is all that lies ahead
I am worried that only more terrible things are in store for me
Never have I felt so lost
I am completely directionless and uncertain of what to do next
Writer(s): Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes
Contributed by Sarah K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@gjmf
This is one of the best records I ever have in my life. Great songs, greatest versions, ever.
@optik2optik
Awesome!
@portmerve
great song
@senorkapowssite
R.I.P. Mr Brookmeyer...
@CYoung449
needs more views imo
@jiyujizai
🙄💛🌷🌱
@rem7502
is that joe pass i hear?