FAREWELL MICHAEL BRECKER

From Wikipedia:

Most of Brecker's early work is marked by an approach informed as much by rock guitar as by R&B saxophone. After Dreams, he worked with Horace Silver and then Billy Cobham before once again teaming up with his Brother Randy to form the Brecker Brothers Band, which played fusion that was equal parts bar band, Monk, and Sly Stone. The band followed the trail blazed by Miles Davis's 1970s bands and Weather Report, but with more attention to structured arrangements, a heavier backbeat, and a stronger rock influence. The band stayed together from 1975–1982 with consistent success and musicality.

At the same time, Brecker put his stamp on numerous pop and rock recordings as a soloist. His more notable collaborations include those with James Taylor, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Donald Fagen and Joni Mitchell. During the early 80s he was also a member of NBC’s Saturday Night Live band. Brecker can be seen in the background sporting shades during Eddie Murphy’s James Brown parody, Get In The Hot Tub. He also played sax briefly on Frank Zappa's live album Zappa in New York.

After a stint co-leading the all-star group Steps Ahead with Mike Mainieri, Brecker finally recorded a solo album in 1987.

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Brecker died of leukemia, way too young, on the 13th. As with James Brown, I haven't really been much of a Michael Brecker fan over the years in terms of buying lots of albums, but I'd be deaf not to recognize his brilliance. Indeed, I was listening to him by way of Steely Dan, Zappa, Joni Mitchell, and Donald Fagen well before I knew who he was. I even saw his brother, also very talented, play once in New York as part of the Mingus Big Band. But it was his work with Steps Ahead that really blew me away. My older brother gave me one of their albums, Magnetic, for Christmas when I was a senior in high school back in 1985. Brecker's take on Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood," with the sax part played on an Electronic Wind Instrument, blew me away, sort of reinventing classy romance and sexuality for the eighties. Brecker's solo on the song "Trains," however, still strikes me as one of the most moving in all of jazz: he overdubbed himself, so it's essentially two solos playing at the same time, and the effect is a marvelous and overwhelming wall of sax power.

He was truly one of the greats, and should be spoken about when one discusses Coltrane and Parker. If he had played in an earlier era, you'd probably have already heard of him.

Here is a video clip of a live performance of "In a Sentimental Mood."

Here is a video clip of a live performance of "Trains." The solo isn't as good as the record, but it's still worth checking out.

Farewell Michael Brecker.



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