Tenor saxophone, vocals, congas, bongos.
A Seattle native, Brashear is considered by musicians to be one of the best, if not the best, bebop improviser who ever played in the Emerald City. In the early ’40s he played in a pickup quartet called The Four Sharps at Garfield High School with Charlie Blackwell (Bumps’ younger brother), Sonny Booker and Billy Tolles and was a founding member of Tolles’ pioneering swing band, the Savoy Boys, in 1942. In 1949 Brashear was featured at the Trianon Ballroom with his brother, Buddy (piano), Ray Charles and Floyd Standifer. In 1950-51, Brashear played in the Cecil Young Quartet, which had a regional hit thanks to Brashear’s scat solo on “Who Parked the Car,” and the band opened for Sarah Vaughan at Birdland, in New York. Young’s quartet fizzled, but the late ’50s Brashear became the main attraction at Pete’s Poop Deck, Seattle’s first downtown nightclub devoted specifically to jazz. Brashear lived with vocalist Wanda Brown after her first husband, Vernon Brown, died.
Jackson Street After Hours (print). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Brashear