I was fortunate enough not only to hear these gentlemen at the Half Note in New York as a teenager but to work with both of them in my career with symphony orchestras. Great talents and even greater people.
I also saw them play several times at the Half Note in the sixties. My best friend growing up was Ernie Royal Jr. One time Big Ernie and his wife Flo asked me if I wanted to go over Clark Terry's house in Bayside, Queens with them and Ernie Jr. I took my Oscar Peterson Trio + One, Clark Terry album and Clark was very gracious and wrote a personalized autograph and drew a picture of a trumpet under his signature. He was extremely nice and we had a great time. Great memory.
Jo també tinc entès que va colpejar a Jimmy Kneeper. Mingus tenia un gran talent musical pero una personalitat disfuncional. També va tenir problemes amb Juan Tizol.
AFAIK, Brookmeyer never played with Mingus. Jimmy Knepper was the trombone player in question. I don't know how you punch the star of "Pussy Cat Dues" in the mouth, but that was Mingus. People talk about Jack Teagarden or J.J. Johnson, but Jimmy Knepper was a phenomenon.
