Four Brothers - Definition and Overview

"Four Brothers" is a jazz standard composed by Jimmy Giuffre and performed by the Woody Herman Orchestra.

The song features four saxes (three tenors and one baritone) in an arrangement that gives each "brother" a solo and culminates in a hard-swinging sax section chorus.

The song so typifies the sound of Woody Herman's second "Herd" that the band is also known as the Four Brothers Band. The title also refers to the four musicians that played in the original version: Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Herbie Stewart, and Serge Chaloff. All four played in the light-vibrato West-coast style first popularized by Stan Getz.