Jimmy Giuffre: 1954-’55

The multi-instrumentalist would have been unknown if not for Hal McKusick

One of West Coast jazz’s forgotten heroes was composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Jimmy Giuffre. He played tenor and baritone saxophones and clarinet, and became famous after composing and arranging Four Brothers, a huge hit for Woody Herman’s Second Herd in 1948. We have alto saxophonist and clarinetist Hal McKusick to thank for Giuffre’s rise and recordings in the 1950s and beyond. As Hal told me in 2007 [photo above of Jimmy Giuffre]…