On the Way to the Sky : Remembering Bob Brookmeyer

In On the Way to the Sky: Remembering Bob Brookmeyer, author Michael Stephans has created a rich, multifaceted paean to jazz icon Bob Brookmeyer, the much-beloved musical genius who passed away in 2011, four days short of his 82nd birthday.

On the Way to the Sky is a hybrid book in that it’s part memoir, part biography, with over a dozen essays by such luminaries as Maria Schneider, Jim McNeely, John Mosca, Darcy James Argue, Dave Rivello, John Hollenbeck, and the late Terry Teachout, as well as shorter tributes by prominent musicians, writers, and family members. Stephans also presents three chronologically arranged chapters that trace Brookmeyer’s musical trajectory via his recordings, from 1952 through 2011.

In spite of Brookmeyer’s six-decade career as a master of the valve trombone and piano—and as an iconoclastic composer, arranger, and educator—he has rarely received the exposure to the listening public that he so richly deserves. In Stephans’s words, “When writing about music and musicians, a writer’s responsibility is to expand public awareness of other voices in all musical genres.” His dedication to illuminating the Brookmeyer legacy is his palpable raison d’être.

MICHAEL STEPHANS has led three distinct but interrelated lives. He holds a PhD and two master’s degrees, has taught at three prestigious universities, and is currently faculty emeritus at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. A prominent jazz musician, Michael has performed and recorded with a wide array of jazz artists, including Bob Brookmeyer, Bennie Maupin, Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano, Alan Broadbent, and many others. Michael is also an author of two nonfiction books, Experiencing Jazz: A Listener’s Companion and Experiencing Ornette Coleman: A Listener’s Companion, and three books of poetry and fiction.