Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Bud Brisbois: Rocket Man - In Memoray of Bud Brisbois 1937-1978

172

Bud Brisbois: Rocket Man - In Memoray of Bud Brisbois 1937-1978

By

View read count
Bud Brisbois: Rocket Man - In Memoray of Bud Brisbois 1937-1978
Bud Brisbois is known for the time he spends in the higher ranges of the trumpet. He was with Stan Kenton Band during the late 1950's and early '60s, playing with one of Kenton's better aggregations. It's his trumpet one hears screeching on such classic Kenton recordings as "The Peanut Vendor." Brisbois also had a long relationship with Henry Mancini and is the horn on Mancini's "Peter Gunn" which is included on this album.

This memorial album compiles previously unreleased Brisbois material from 1956 his first recording made while still in high school to 1978 as he worked with a variety of groups playing a variety of jazz modes, ranging from straight forward through high falutin' compositional endeavors. The latter is represented by the modern, but shallow, jazz symphony (just a cut above Kenton at his most pretentious) "Titan Suite" recorded with the Chicago Philharmonic. Shallow or not, this piece does provide Brisbois a stage to show off his considerable virtuosity and prodigious upper register technique and powerful blowing. "Love Handles" is a spirited, up tempo R&B influenced cut from one of his Butane Orchestra recordings with a vocalist sounding a bit like Bobby Darin, again with Brisbois reaching for the heavens on trumpet. Yet the man with the horn could be melodically tender as he wends his way through "Embraceable You" working with a big band. Sounds of strain are apparent on the Haydn like "Where Am I Going?" where Brisbois is having trouble as his playing gets quite thin. Perhaps the years of concentrating on the upper reaches of his instrument had taken its toll. This cut was made in 1978, just before he committed suicide in June of that year.

The liner notes don't identify any of those with Brisbois on these tracks, which is unfortunate. But I for one found it difficult to sit through more than 70 minutes of technically excellent but, for the most part, artistically narrow trumpet playing. This will appeal to trumpet devotees, but not many beyond that circle. No player but Brisbois is identified in the liner notes.

Track Listing

Embraceable you; Titan Suite; Danish Twist; Too Beautiful; Evening Star; Stray Horn; Unknown; Unknown; Hang on Sloopy; Latin Holiday; Rose Hips; Peter Gunn; Encore [Peter Gunn]; Love Handles; Shadow of Your smile; Where Am I Going?; Encore [Where Am I Going?]

Personnel

Bud Brisbois
trumpet

Bud Brisbois, trumpet, with various orchestras and smaller groups.

Album information

Title: Rocket Man - In Memoray of Bud Brisbois 1937-1978 | Year Released: 2001 | Record Label: Seeley Music Productions

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.