Mark Zeger Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 Today would have been the 75th birthday of Michael Brecker, of blessed memory. It’s reasonable to say he’s the second most imitated tenor after Coltrane. Chris Potter said because Brecker was so oftener copied, he’d never accept staying musically stagnant. He’d purposefully practice to move to the next place in his evolution. How do you pick 1 recording to represent Brecker? You can’t though this is a very good one. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan May Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 Michael Brecker was also well known for his usage of the Electronic Wind Instrument, or EWI. It was a wind controlled synthesiser, so it was a cross between a synthesiser, and a saxophone, and had up to 8 octaves. Michael started using it in the eighties, and continued to do so up until his death in 2007. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.F.N. Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 Not to forget, bunch of stuff at Arista, including Midnight train to Georgia together with his brother! 😊 1 Quote "You live every day. You only die once." Where is Major Tom? - - - - - Band Rig: PC3, HX3 w. B4D, 61SLMkII Other stuff: Prologue 16, KingKORG, Opsix, DM12D, Argon8m, EX5R, Toraiz AS-1, IK Uno, Toraiz SP-16, Erica LXR-02, QY-700, SQ64, Beatstep Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Analogaddict Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 I saw him live - it was an almost transcendental experience. He could do the same thing that I’ve heard Zawinul and Jarret do, take the music to a new level and push himself higher than I thought possible - and still seeming so effortless. An absolute musical master. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moj Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 One my favorite Michael Brecker solos. It's from Neil Larsen's Jungle Fever album (1978). Last Tango In Paris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marino Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 There are so many. If forced to chose a few, I would pick "Cityscape" with Claus Ogerman, "Modern Times" and "Magnetic" with Steps Ahead, "Three Quartets" with Chick Corea, and any one of his solo albums - they're all excellent. Although the last one, "Pilgrimage" is particularly touching. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Quinn Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 My favorite. Saw him so many times; sometimes I was lucky enough to sit just a few feet away (i.e., Fat Tuesdays in NYC with Kenny Kirkland on piano). Saw him with the McCoy Tyner trio at the Newport Jazz Festival. Always mind-blowingly great. The album with McCoy is one of my favorites. His session work on pop recordings is incredible as well. I love the solo he plays on Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years and his solo on Donald Fagan's Maxine is as good as it gets! 1 Quote https://alquinn.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzpiano88 Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 47 minutes ago, Al Quinn said: His session work on pop recordings is incredible as well. I love the solo he plays on Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years and his solo on Donald Fagan's Maxine is as good as it gets! Agreed! One of my favorites is Time is of the Essence. This is a nice live recording of it along with a fascinating interview of him at the start with him talking about melody and the joy and ease of playing with this configuration: Quote J a z z P i a n o 8 8 -- Yamaha C7D Montage M8x | CP300 | CP4 | SK1-73 | OB6 | Seven K8.2 | 3300 | CPSv.3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyberGene Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 I’m not much into saxophone, so can’t really say much about him but I remember when I first heard In a Sentimental Mood by Steps Ahead, I became so obsessed with that synth line! I thought it was Mike Mainieri on synth but many years later I realized it was actually Brecker on EWI ❤️ Here’s a live version: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tapes Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 On 3/31/2024 at 5:16 AM, marino said: …any one of his solo albums - they're all excellent. Although the last one, "Pilgrimage" is particularly touching. And yet he sounds absolutely like himself, you wouldn’t think he was ill. Had both Herbie and Mehldau on that one, too. Some of my favorite tunes by him, too - like ”Tumbleweed” and ”The Mean Time”. One other fav is Time is of the Essence (1999). Elvin Jones, Bill Stewart, Larry Goldings (organ), Pat Metheny AND ”Tain” Watts. I saw him only once, back in 2001 with the Directions in Music super group (Hancock, Roy Hargrove), mostly for Herbie. I will remember it forever. But there are so many. With the Brecker Brothers: the live solos on ”Some Skunk Funk”, ”Song for Barry”, his tune ”Night Flight”… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Zeger Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 12 hours ago, Al Quinn said: Saw him with the McCoy Tyner trio at the Newport Jazz Festival. Always mind-blowingly great. The album with McCoy is one of my favorites. I also saw Brecker with McCoy but in NYC. I found a photo from one of those dates. I also found this video of that band at Newport that you must have seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Quinn Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 Yep, I was at that Newport Jazz Festival. It was amazing! As I recall Brecker played again the next day with Herbie Hancock’s group, but I wasn’t there for that. I didn’t realize they played at Iridium. That must have been awesome. Cool club — I’ve played there a few times. Really nice piano. 1 Quote https://alquinn.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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