Four Brothers is a jazz standard written by Jimmy Giuffre in 1947….which was based on the chord changes of ‘Jeepers Creepers’…..as the song was written for the “Four Brothers” saxophone section of Woody Herman’s second band….and has since been covered by many groups.
Woody Herman recorded it on December 27, 1947 for Columbia records….with his second Herd….which had been organized earlier that year….and it featured the “Four Brothers” saxophone section of Zoot Sims, Serge Chaloff, Herbie Steward, and Stan Getz….and all playing in that order…..which was in the light vibrato style of their idol, Lester Young. 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….plus, he recorded again in 1958….with an album released by Atlantic entitled The Four Brothers Sound…..then Anita O’Day recorded “scat versions” of the tune in the 1950’s and 1960’s….in which she took the place of one of the four saxophone players and scatted with the other three….while the King Sisters, also had a version of it….as Marian McPartland also recorded a live version on piano in 1959.
A vocal version was also released by The Manhattan Transfer on their 1978 album Pastiche….as this rendition was based on the arrangement that Lambert, Hendricks and Ross used in the 1950’s…..as seen in this video herewith.
