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Four Brothers is a jazz standard in AABA format written by
Jimmy Giuffre James Peter Giuffre (, ; April 26, 1921 – April 24, 2008) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He is known for developing forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating f ...
in 1947, based on the chord changes of 'Jeepers Creepers'. The song was written for the "Four Brothers" saxophone section of Woody Herman's second band, and has since been covered by many groups.


Recordings

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...
recorded it on December 27, 1947 for Columbia records with his second Herd, which had been organized earlier that year. It features the "Four Brothers" saxophone section of
Zoot Sims John Haley "Zoot" Sims (October 29, 1925 – March 23, 1985) was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor but also alto (and, later, soprano) saxophone. He first gained attention in the "Four Brothers" sax section of Woody Herman's big ...
,
Serge Chaloff Serge Chaloff (November 24, 1923 – July 16, 1957) was an American jazz baritone saxophonist. The first and greatest bebop baritonist, Chaloff has been described as 'the most expressive and openly emotive baritone saxophonist jazz has ever ...
,
Herbie Steward Herbert Bickford "Herbie" Steward (May 7, 1926 Los Angeles, California, United States – August 9, 2003 Clearlake, California) was an American jazz saxophonist. He was widely known for being one of the tenor saxophone players in Four Brother ...
, and
Stan Getz Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...
, playing in that order. All four played in the light, almost vibrato-less, style of their idol,
Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most i ...
. The song so typifies the sound of Woody Herman's second Herd that the band is also known as the Four Brothers Band. Giuffre recorded it in 1955 when it was released on his debut album by Capitol. He again recorded it in 1958, an album released by Atlantic entitled The Four Brothers Sound.
Art Pepper Arthur Edward Pepper Jr. (September 1, 1925 – June 15, 1982) was an American alto saxophonist and very occasional tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. Active in West Coast jazz, Pepper came to prominence in Stan Kenton's big band. He was known ...
recorded a version of the tune in 1959 which appears on ''
Art Pepper + Eleven – Modern Jazz Classics '' Art Pepper + Eleven – Modern Jazz Classics'' is a 1960 jazz album by saxophonist Art Pepper and a group of other musicians performing arrangements by Marty Paich, who directed the ensemble. Background The recording is one of several dates ...
.''
Anita O'Day Anita Belle Colton (October 18, 1919 – November 23, 2006), known professionally as Anita O'Day, was an American jazz singer and self proclaimed “song stylist” widely admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appe ...
recorded scat versions of the tune in the 1950s and 1960s, in which she took the place of one of the four saxophone players and scatted with the other three. The King Sisters, also in the 1950s and 1960s, had a version of it.
Marian McPartland Margaret Marian McPartland OBE ( Turner;Hasson, Claire"Marian McPartland: Jazz Pianist: An Overview of a Career" PhD Thesis. Retrieved 12 August 2008. 20 March 1918 – 20 August 2013), was an English–American jazz pianist, composer, and wri ...
also recorded a live version on piano in 1959. A vocal version was also released by
The Manhattan Transfer The Manhattan Transfer is a Grammy award–winning vocal group founded in 1969 that has explored a cappella, vocalese, swing, standards, Brazilian jazz, rhythm and blues, and pop music. There have been two editions of the Manhattan Transfer, ...
on their 1978 album ''
Pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it ...
''. This version was based on the arrangement that
Lambert, Hendricks and Ross Lambert, Hendricks & Ross were an American vocalese trio formed by jazz vocalists Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross. From 1962 to 1964, Ross was replaced by vocalist Yolande Bavan. History The group formed in 1957 and recorded their f ...
used in the 1950s. A Hungarian version of the song ('Four Gangsters') was featured in the 1984 animation movie '
Macskafogó ''Cat City'' ( hu, Macskafogó (Cat Catcher)) is a 1986 Hungarian animated comic science fiction film, directed by Béla Ternovszky and written by József Nepp. The title ''Cat City'' was used in the United States distribution. The film was sel ...
' ( Cat City). An
a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without Musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differ ...
rendition complete with lyrics was recorded by Realtime as the title track of their 2004 CD.


References


See also

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List of jazz contrafacts A contrafact is a musical composition built using the chord progression of a pre-existing song, but with a new melody and arrangement. Typically the original tune's progression and song form will be reused but occasionally just a section will be r ...
Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients 1947 songs 1940s jazz standards Swing jazz standards {{1940s-jazz-composition-stub