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Michael Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer who won 15 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame. He played with many jazz and rock musicians, such as Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan, James Taylor, and Billy Joel.
Brecker, Michael Leonard (born March 29, 1949, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died Jan. 13, 2007, New York, N.Y.) was an American tenor saxophonist, whose stark, jagged, yet driving jazz style influenced many tenor saxophonists in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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...
- Michael Brecker: The Early Years
- Moving to New York and Working with Jazz-Rock Band Dreams
- Brecker’s Sideman Work with Older Jazz Masters
- The Brecker Brothers, Founding A Jazz Club and Steps Ahead
- Brecker’s Prolific Session Work
- Michael Brecker’s Overdue Debut as A Bandleader
- More Sideman Work with Elder Statesman of Jazz
- ‘Tales from The Hudson’ and Growing Influence
- The Michael Brecker Ballad Album & Paying Tribute to The Greats
- Final Years and More to Live For Documentary
Brecker Brecker was born in Philadelphia in 1949. He was exposed to music early on: his father was an amateur jazz pianist who took Michael and his older brother Randy to see greats like Miles Davis, Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk live. His sister Emmy played classical piano, while Randy played trumpet and would later go on to have a major jazz...
After a brief period of study at the University of Indiana, Brecker made the big move to New York Cityin 1969, as so many jazz musicians have done before and since. Aged just 20, he became a member of the jazz-rock group Dreams, recording Dreams and Imagine My Surprise. Although the band was short-lived, it helped launch the careers of important mu...
Despite his work in the new spheres of fusion and jazz-rock, Brecker was equally adept in more traditional acoustic jazz settings, and his playing had caught the attention of a number of older musicians. Randy and Michael both joined the band of Horace Silver, who was known for his funky hard bop, recording In Pursuit of the 27th Man in 1972. D Dur...
After leaving Silver’s band, Michael and Randy were encouraged to form a group of their own by an executive at Arista Records. As The Brecker Brothers, their brand of fusion proved highly popular, with complex unison horn lines played over heavy rock back beats and bold synthesizers. Their 1975 self-titled debut album opens with ‘Some Skunk Funk’, ...
Alongside his jazz work, Brecker was carving out a prolific career as a studio musician during a time, in the 1970s and ‘80s, when it was common for pop songs to contain a short saxophone solo. A concise instrumental interlude on a mainstream hit requires a very different approach to the average solo with a jazz group, and Brecker played masterful ...
Brecker was credited as co-leader on Cityscape (1982), a jazz-meets-orchestra collaboration with the arranger and composer Claus Ogerman. But remarkably, he did not make his proper debut as a bandleader until 1987, when he was 38 and had been working at the highest level for almost 20 years. On Michael Brecker he is accompanied by an A-list rhythm ...
Throughout the 1990s Brecker continued to tour and perform with all manner of jazz, pop and rock artists. In 1995 he made Infinity, a fairly straight-ahead session on which he guests with McCoy Tyner’s trio. The pianist is of course most famous for his role in John Coltrane’s classic 1960s quartet, and on Coltrane’s ‘Impressions’ Brecker’s burning ...
Six years after his previous album as a bandleader, Brecker released Tales From The Hudson in 1996 on Impulse! Records. One of his best loved albums, it won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Album, while his solo on the closing track ‘Cabin Fever’ won Best Jazz Instrumental Solo. As one of the most influential jazz musicians of the last 40 years, coun...
Most of Brecker’s albums prominently feature the saxophonist’s compositions, which are often characterised by a sort of hard-edged, urgency. But in 2001 he displayed his tender side on The Nearness of You: The Ballad Songbook, playing a number of standard torch songs. The album also features a guest appearance from James Taylor, who sings ‘Don’t Le...
In 2005, after suffering back pain, Brecker was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), which prompted a worldwide search to find him a matching stem cell donor. Although this was ultimately unsuccessful, the publicity around his plight resulted in a big rise in awareness of stem cell donation, with thousands of potential donors signing up ...
Jan 6, 2022 · Learn about the life and music of Michael Brecker, a tenor saxophonist who played with jazz, rock, and pop stars. Read interviews, anecdotes, and reviews of his albums and collaborations.
Jul 11, 2024 · Learn about Michael Brecker, a legendary tenor saxophonist who played jazz, rock and pop music. Explore his career, influences, awards, albums, collaborations and legacy on All About Jazz.
Learn about the life and career of Michael Brecker, the most influential saxophonist of the last 30 years and a 13-time Grammy winner. Explore his musical achievements, collaborations, awards, and legacy.
