Glamorgan Gazette
Bridgend, Wales : 05/31/1957

Outstanding examples of modern jazz “chamber music” are presented in this Long Playing release by Esquire of American Prestige recordings made on 30-6-1955.

The “Dual Role” sub-title of the album arises because it high-lights the talents of Bob Brookmeyer on piano as well as on valve trombone, the instrument on which he is most frequently heard.

Potrezbrie is a composition by guitarist Jimmy Raney, who is also featured in this recording. It contains a subtle combination of Brookmeyer’s trombone and Raney’s guitar, as well as very pretty solo work by both players. Teddy Kotick and Mel Lewis render useful service int he rhythm department.

Bob Brookmeyer wrote Under the Lilacs and Rocky Scotch.

He plays the piano in Lilacs; this is a freely swinging piece, the paino and guitar being smoothly integrated in the group and showing up very well in the solo sections. Raney’s guitar solo is a gem.

Rocky features an extended opening solo by Brookmeyer on trombone, with delicate echoes from Raney’s guitar. Then Raney takes his turn with a remarkably agile guitar improvisation. Both players are at their best in this piece, and the rhythm men are also in exceptionally good form.

Irving Berlin‘s tune, They Say it’s Wonderful, receives original treatment from the quartet, with Brookmeyer at the piano.

Here is a beautifully recorded modern jazz session, the two valve trombone titles on side number two deserving especially high marks.

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Miami Herald
Fred Sherman : 03/17/1957

… This same versatility is demonstrated on an album called The Dual Role of Bob Brookmeyer. These are 1954-55 sessions with a quartet featuring guitarist Jimmy Raney and another foursome led by vibist Teddy Charles. The Charles side is, I believe, music from an earlier 10-inch release; compositions by Brookmeyer and Gerry Mulligan that lean to the atonal side. I prefer Bobby’s trombone and piano working with Raney’s warm guitar.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

While I was attending the University of Missouri, I met many musicians from Kansas City. One thing they all had in common was an enthusiasm for the playing of Bob Brookmeyer. Unfortunately, I was never able to hear Bob when I was in the midwest; either he was on the road or in the Army. Without hearing him, I nevertheless heard so much laudatory comment about him that I decided that when I did finally hear him, the inevitable letdown that follows a tremendous build up would be the result. Happily, I can say that Bob lived up to expectations and has continued to make his original boosters look good. He is a musician of great resource, wit, drive and integrity.

Playing one instrument well is an accomplishment of no small size. Playing two well is a rarer feat especially when the instruments are as diverse as valve trombone and piano. Brookmeyer established himself on valve trombone as one of the brightest talents to emerge in the Fifties. His work with the groups of Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan and his writing for these and other groups both were always consistent with jazz’s best qualities. On piano, however, his prowess was known to a few due to his rare appearances at the keyboard. He had been with Tex Beneke‘s band as a pianist in 1951, with Claude Thornhill on trombone and second piano for part of 1952 and with Terry Gibbs in that same year (same instrument) but it was not until an engagement with Teddy Charles at a small New York nightclub named Ciro’s, during that club’s short-lived jazz policy late in 1953, that we had a chance to hear Bob at length.

Revelation was one of the numbers that I looked forward to hearing every time I caught the group. Something new would always happen during the interplay between Teddy and Bob’s piano. When the group recorded early in 1954, I insisted that they include Mulligan’s song. As in the in-person versions Bob is heard on both trombone and piano. Something not heard before but just as welcome was the Brookmeyer original Loup-Garou (were-wolf) which features Bob at the piano in a highly rhythmic and lugubrious mood. Since that time Bob has filled in on certain numbers in the various pianoless Gerry Mulligan groups but it remained for another recording session to bring the Brookmeyer piano into the limelight again. Jimmy Raney was his eminent partner in this one and Teddy Kotick was once again on hand.

The piano-guitar combination is heard on Brookmeyer’s Under the Lilac’s and Irving Berlin‘s They Say It’s Wonderful. Bob is more subdued than on the Charles session but swinging nevertheless in his single-lined funky way. His trombone contributions on his own Rocky Scotch and Raney’s Potrezebie (a bow to Mad) are typical of the swinging continuity of thought which marks any of his endeavors. Jimmy’s guitar is relaxed, pensive and warm throughout.