MICHAEL BRECKER

[CJ Shearn]

well, tonight it was disc 1 of "80/81" and "3 Quartets" and tomm I'll spin his debut, "Tales from the Hudson" a few live shows, including an incredible one with Pat, Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart from Germany in 2000, and I'll watch the DVD I have of a great performance in '97 of Herbie's "New Standard" band from Montreux. Brecker, Scofield, DeJohnette and Alias are on fire for that one.

Thanks again Mike for the beautiful music you made, though I don't remember much of seeing you live when I was 7, I will remember all the great stuff you put out as I have seriously listened to you. I bet you, Trane and Elvin are having one hell of a jam session up there

Edited January 14, 2007 by CJ Shearn

[wesbed]

Michael Brecker.

[Jim Alfredson]

Damn. I was waiting for it to be confirmed before commenting. He died much too young.

Damn.

RIP.

[MartyJazz]

The obit from the Associated Press:

Saxophonist Michael Brecker dies at age 57

The Associated Press

Saturday, January 13, 2007

NEW YORK

Michael Brecker, a versatile and much-studied jazz saxophonist who

won 11 Grammys over a career that spanned more than three decades,

died Saturday at age 57.

Brecker died in New York of leukemia, according to his longtime

friend and agent, Darryl Pitt.

In recent years, the saxophonist had struggled myelodysplastic

syndrome, a cancer in which the bone marrow stops producing enough

healthy blood cells. The disease, known as MDS, often progresses to

leukemia.

Becker, who had a home in Hastings-on- Hudson, New York, was born in

1949 in Philadelphia and had won 11 Grammys for his work as a tenor

saxophonist. He was inspired to study the tenor saxophone by the work

of jazz legend John Coltrane, according to his Web site.

He and his brothers led a successful jazz-rock fusion group called

the Brecker Brothers. Throughout his career, he recorded and

performed with numerous jazz and pop music leaders, including Herbie

Hancock and Joni Mitchell, according to the site.

His technique on the saxophone was widely emulated and taught. Jazziz

magazine once called him "inarguably the most influential tenor

stylist of the last 25 years."

Though somewhat introverted, his struggle with the blood disease led

him to publicly encourage people to enroll in marrow donor programs.

[JSngry]

Have to say that overall I wasn't a "fan". But I had immense respect for the cat as somebody who dealt with a lot of different musical challenges, always with integrity, grace, and aplomb. Going way back, his solo on the beginning of the second side of the first Dreams album was in its own way a startling wakeup call, and his solo on James Taylor's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" was a textbook example of how to play on a sax solo on a pop record w/o dumbing down.

Stories I've heard over the years lead me to believe that he was 1000% humble about where he stood in the grand scheme of things. No ego, no inflated sense of "importance", he seems to have seen himself as somebody with skills who was blessed with a good living because of them, and he put those blessings to use to further his personal growth as a player. If that's not worthy of respect, what is?

His loss will be felt.

[Dan Gould]

Sad news but as mentioned above, awareness of his disease surely led people to be more aware of Bone Marrow registries and the importance of finding donors. As a bone marrow donor to my brother, I know personally how critically important that is.

[mikeweil]

Just my thoughts - words fail here. I wish he would have made it through his courageous battle with cancer.

[Clunky]

Very sad indeed, not a big fan really but he was solid player and died way to young.

[7/4]

Mark Turner on Mike Brecker

[sal]

Very sad to hear this...

[randissimo]

Got this message from Pat Metheny in my myspace inbox.. It's the NYT's story..

Michael Brecker Dies at 57; Prolific Jazz Saxophonist

By BEN RATLIFF, New York Times

Michael Brecker, a saxophonist who won 11 Grammy Awards and was among the most influential musicians in jazz since the 1960s, died yesterday at a hospital in New York City. He was 57 and lived in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

The cause of death was leukemia, said Darryl Pitt, his manager.

Having taken a deep understanding of John Coltrane's saxophone vocabulary and applied it to music that merged with mainstream culture — particularly jazz fusion and singer-songwriter pop of the 1970s and 80s — Mr. Brecker spread his sound all over the world.

For a time, Mr. Brecker seemed nearly ubiquitous. His discography — it contains more than 900 albums — started in 1969, playing on the record "Score," with a band led by his brother, the trumpeter Randy Brecker. It continued in 1970 with an album by Dreams, the jazz-rock band he led with his brother and the drummer Billy Cobham.

His long list of sideman work from then on wended through hundreds more records, including those by Frank Zappa, Aerosmith, James Brown, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed, Funkadelic, Steely Dan, John Lennon, Elton John, and James Taylor, as well as (on the jazz side) Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and Papo Vasquez. His 11 Grammys included two for "Wide Angles," his ambitious last album, released in 2003 with a fifteen-piece band he called the Quindectet.

His highest achievements were his own albums, both under his own name (starting in 1986) and with the Brecker Brothers band, as well as his early 80s work with the group Steps Ahead. Mr. Brecker was scheduled to tour with a reunited version of Steps Ahead in the summer of 2005 when his condition was publicly announced — initially as myelodysplastic syndrome, a bone-marrow disorder, which finally progressed to leukemia — and much of his work had to stop.

Mr. Brecker grew up in a musical family in Philadelphia; his father was a lawyer who played jazz piano. He started playing the clarinet at the age 6, switched to alto saxophone in the eighth grade, and finally settled on tenor saxophone in the tenth. He started to attend Indiana University — as did his brother Randy. After initially pursuing a music degree and then briefly switching to pre-med, he quickly discovered he preferred to be playing music. He left for New York at 19.

For most of the 1970s and through the mid-80s he worked hard in studio sessions, becoming a fixture on albums by the Southern California pop singer-songwriter movement, including those by Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell. But for hard-core jazz enthusiasts, it was his work of the early 80s — on Steps Ahead's first two albums, when the band was simply called Steps — as well as Chick Corea's "Three Quartets," from 1981, and Pat Metheny's "80/81," from 1980, that cemented his reputation as a great player.

His tone was strong and focused, and some of his recognizable language echoed Coltrane's sound. But having worked in pop, where a solo must be strong and to the point, Mr. Brecker was above all a condenser of exciting devices into short spaces. He could fold the full pitch range of the horn into a short solo, from altissimo to the lowest notes, and connect rarefied ideas to the rich, soulful phrasing of saxophonists like Junior Walker.

In the 1980s and 1990s he experimented with the electronic wind instrument called the EWI, which allowed him to blow through an electronic hornlike device, play a range of sampled sounds, and multitrack them in real time. He began experimenting with the instrument again in the last few years.

With the onset of his illness, he and his family called for bone-marrow donors at international jazz festivals, synagogues, and Jewish community centers around America; tens of thousands responded. Working sporadically over the last year, he managed to complete his final album two weeks ago, Mr. Pitt said.

He is survived by his wife, Susan, of Hastings-on-Hudson; his children, Jessica and Sam, of Hastings-on-Hudson; his brother, Randy, of Manhattan; and his sister, Emily Brecker Greenberg, of Philadelphia.

[chris olivarez]

Oh man that just blows. RIP Michael.

[Jazz Kat]

I just found out today. Bummer.

[Hardbopjazz]

Thanks for the music Mike. RIP

[Durium]

Michael Brecker

We'll miss him!!

Michael Brecker

Keep swinging

Durium

Edited January 15, 2007 by Durium

[GA Russell]

...and his solo on James Taylor's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" was a textbook example of how to play on a sax solo on a pop record w/o dumbing down...

Jim, are you sure that was Brecker? I thought it was David Sanborn.

[BERIGAN]

Rest in Peace.....

Not much of a fan of the thing he is playing(called an EWI) but still interesting in a way, and very different than his tenor....

[MartyJazz]

Have to say that overall I wasn't a "fan". But I had immense respect for the cat as somebody who dealt with a lot of different musical challenges, always with integrity, grace, and aplomb. Going way back, his solo on the beginning of the second side of the first Dreams album was in its own way a startling wakeup call, and his solo on James Taylor's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" was a textbook example of how to play on a sax solo on a pop record w/o dumbing down.

Stories I've heard over the years lead me to believe that he was 1000% humble about where he stood in the grand scheme of things. No ego, no inflated sense of "importance", he seems to have seen himself as somebody with skills who was blessed with a good living because of them, and he put those blessings to use to further his personal growth as a player. If that's not worthy of respect, what is?

His loss will be felt.

Very well put. MB was someone I always wanted to like, particularly in view of all the adulation and respect he garnered among saxophonists and his peers. While I was unable to share the enthusiasm for his playing, I never could understand Joe Henderson's critique that MB was a musical plagiarist, as I for one could hear that MB was his own man, dig him or not. In any event, I know that many players and fans dug him on both a musical and personal level, and that obviously makes his premature passing a terrible loss. RIP.

Edited January 15, 2007 by MartyJazz

[Hot Ptah]

My thoughts on Michael Brecker, the musician, were changed for the better by his performance with the Herbie Hancock group in March, 2005. Also in the group were Roy Hargrove, Scott Colley and Terri Lyne Carrington. Michael's tenor sax solos were consistently exciting and inspired. He played way beyond routine, safe solos--as I heard him the phrase "blasting into the stratosphere" kept coming to mind. It was one of the best live performances I have seen in over 30 years of jazz concert-going. He played one song on the EWI and it was interesting and engaging. He turned it into a one man big band performance. A little of the EWI goes a long way for me, but I had to admit that I liked it.

As a result of that performance, I will always think of him as one of the giants. It is sad to think of what more he could have done in music.

[7/4]

I like the Impulse albums with Pat Metheny & 80/81. I'm totally unfamiliar with the Brecker Bros. material. This is the Michael Brecker I know and will miss.

[Kalo]

57! Too young.

Not a huge fan myself, but I agree with those who appreciated his un-dumbed-down solos on pop records. I always get a kick out of his spot on Funkadelic's "Oh, I," from their underrated album The Electric Spanking of War Babies.

[JSngry]

...and his solo on James Taylor's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" was a textbook example of how to play on a sax solo on a pop record w/o dumbing down...

Jim, are you sure that was Brecker? I thought it was David Sanborn.

Definitely Brecker. Sanborn was on "How Sweet It Is".

[JSngry]

I never could understand Joe Henderson's critique that MB was a musical plagiarist, as I for one could hear that MB was his own man, dig him or not.

Well, I could understand it, but I thought it was a bit of overstatement based on Joe's personal frustration. Joe was a huge influence on that whole school/generation of tenor players, & Brecker was no exception. But as you note, he developed his own voice to speak the vocabulary. Joe was no doubt a little pissed at seeing somebody like Brecker get all the adulation and $$$, but can you really see Joe Henderson playing on a Cameo record?

The industry don't reward source, the industry rewards those who play along. And Joe, god bless him, wasn't that kind of guy.

[JSngry]

I'm totally unfamiliar with the Brecker Bros. material.

That stuff is at once jive and hip. Studio-funk-fusion, but not without some musical thinking and creativity going into it along the way. Very much of its time in terms of the new generation of jazz-players-entering-the-pop/studio-world, and definitely NY-ish in outlook.

I'll put it this way - if you never hear it, no biggie. But if you do, you'll likely find some things here and there that pique your interest.

[7/4]

I'm totally unfamiliar with the Brecker Bros. material.

That stuff is at once jive and hip. Studio-funk-fusion, but not without some musical thinking and creativity going into it along the way. Very much of its time in terms of the new generation of jazz-players-entering-the-pop/studio-world, and definitely NY-ish in outlook.

I'll put it this way - if you never hear it, no biggie. But if you do, you'll likely find some things here and there that pique your interest.

That's what I thought. I must have heard something to get that impression.

I know I heard the Zappa in NY album and Double Double You by Kenny Wheeler.

Edited January 15, 2007 by 7/4