Randy Brecker with Michael Brecker – Some Skunk Funk (2005)
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 67:27 minutes | Scans included | 4,53 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,39 GB
Features 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 multichannel surround sound | Telarc # SACD-63647 | Genre: Jazz
In the mid ’70s, trumpeter Randy Brecker and his saxophonist brother Michael were the Wynton and Branford Marsalis of their jazz fusion day. This live date features the brothers performing with the WDR Big Band in Koln, Germany in 2003. Augmented by conductor/arranger Vince Mendoza, bassist Will Lee, and drummer Peter Erskine, the Breckers revive some of their hits from their classic LPs Back to Back, Don’t Stop the Music, Heavy Metal Be-Bop, Detente, and Strap-Hangin’. Randy’s full-bodied trumpet tones and Michael’s Tranish sheets-of-sound sax appeal reveal their tradition-born technique applied to funk, world, and pop-oriented soundscapes. The peppery title track and the mid-tempo backbeat on “Sponge” reveal their mainstream jazz cred, and the oblique “Wayne Out” is a tribute to Wayne Shorter. The Latin-tinged “Shanghigh” is a shout-out to Randy’s former boss Horace Silver, while the percussive “For Barry” reveals Michael’s type of tenor madness. Contrary to some critics, these fusion cats could swing.
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Michael Brecker – Pilgrimage (2007)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 77:33 minutes | Scans included | 4,29 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,5 GB
Features Stereo and Multichannel surround sound | Genre: Jazz
Next to John Coltrane, Michael Brecker was unquestionably the most influential tenor player in the history of jazz. As a result of his stylistic and harmonic innovations, he is the most studied contemporary jazz musician in music schools throughout the world today. This posthumous release comprises the last recordings Michael Brecker made before his untimely death in January 2007. The all-star lineup on Pilgrimage, which includes Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny, Jack DeJohnette, and John Patitucci, has worked in various combinations over the past four decades. Here, they perform with the compelling group interplay of a longstanding ensemble. Brecker’s nine compositions mark the first time he made an album solely of his own material. This is further testament to the creative drive that helped sustain him during his physical decline. From balladry to classic post-bop reveries, Brecker has fashioned one of his finest albums, and certainly his most personal work.
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Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Roy Hargrove – Directions In Music: Live At Massey Hall (2002)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:18:27 minutes | 2,11 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Verve
A double-milestone year for jazz, 2001 marked the 75th anniversary of the births of both Miles Davis and John Coltrane. With that in mind, Herbie Hancock went on tour with a quintet modeled after his V.S.O.P. bands of the ’70s and ’80s and the Tribute to Miles band of the ’90s, which in turn were modeled after the 1965-1968 Miles Davis Quintet. The question this disc proposes: Can you go home yet again? Hancock preferred to dodge that one, saying that he was attempting to push the music onward in the Davis/Coltrane spirit of adventure rather than play for nostalgia. But essentially, despite the often unblinkingly hard-nosed soloing and the sometimes radical reworking of the old tunes, the conception of this idiom is that of Miles, and Michael Brecker’s often brilliant, searching tenor sax work owes its soul to the example of Trane. Although the quintet’s Los Angeles gig on October 11, 2001, was rather disappointing, the Toronto concert recorded here was a big improvement, with two weeks of roadwork evidently having the desired tightening effect. Though Hancock’s piano gradually became more abstract and disconnected with its surroundings over the years, here he is in touch with his colleagues. Brecker provides the most fervent individual statement with an unaccompanied rendition of “Naima” that amounts to a virtual encyclopedia of tenor saxophone technique. Roy Hargrove does a serviceable job on trumpet and flügelhorn, trying to fill some heavy shoes, and as accomplished as the rhythm team of John Patitucci (bass) and Brian Blade (drums) is, you miss the irreplaceable combustion of Ron Carter and especially the late Tony Williams (compare the original Davis recording of “The Sorcerer” with this inward, less dynamic, less driving version). The most strikingly reworked cover tune is a slow, drawn-out, mournful take on “Impressions,” almost an elegy for Coltrane, and Brecker delivers the eulogy with fire in the belly. There is new material from Hargrove (“The Poet”), Brecker (“D Trane”), and the three headliners (“Misstery”), none of which expands much beyond the parameters of the Davis and Coltrane models. While this quintet does not kick over old boundaries, it does make good, uncompromisingly intelligent music. –Richard S. Ginell, AllMusic
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Michael Brecker – Live at Fabrik, Hamburg, 1987 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:11:52 minutes | 841 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Jazzline
October 18, 1987 was a very special day for the two brothers Michael Brecker& Randy Brecker. For years both had conquered the stages of the world together with their band Brecker Brothers and earned the reputation of being among the world´s leading jazz musicians on their instruments, the saxophone and the trumpet. On that evening in the legendary Hamburg factory, both were on stage together for the first time, each with their own band.
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