The Quest of Michael Brecker!

The first time I heard Michael Brecker was when I first started at my community college. I became friends with a classmate in class who loved Jazz. He did not really listen to a lot of popular music. He loved Jazz because he had a saxophone and he said there really was no reason to listen to pop music. We both became friends and we still are to this day. His music world was not much different then mine. He stayed away from pop music for a number of reasons. It was crap was one response I got from him. Another was that he really did not see any artist out there that really was worthy of his attention. I on the other hand got rid of all my notions what to listen to after High School. I took the stuff I listened to and decided to leave them on the side of the road. I still listened to some Classic Rock, but I started listening to Jazz, Classical, Avante-Garde and Experimental music. All the ideas what I should be listened to was not in my range of hearing. I was in a new part of my life and rightly so I should turn the chapter on what I should hear. This friend got me into a bunch of Jazz and for that I thanked him.

Later on in our friendship I asked him why he dug Michael Brecker? He told me that he had this Electronic thing called a Ewi and to him that was a marvel. It was like a saxophone synth sound that when blown has a signature sound. He gave me a few of his albums that had this sound to them. I was amazed how it did sound and the fact that he used it in good taste with the music. It did not sound like it did not belong. It was done with class. He took me to see Michael Brecker perform twice and each time I was shaking my head on how great he was.



I returned the favor one cold and snowy January day in 1997. I called him up and told him that I am going to a concert about an hour away and I want him to come. I told him I got tickets for Brecker and I want someone else to come along. My friend remembered the album that he was promoting. It had a great cast of musicians. These people included Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, McCoy Tyner and the great percussionist Don Alias. On the way up on this day we ran into a snow storm. At that time I was not good in snow nor was I about to take a chance, but a promise was just that a promise. We got into town and I went to the box office to see if this concert was still going on. They told me that the band was still in town. They told me that they could not give away who was playing with him, but the guy at the ticket office told me that he was doing a private solo thing at the record store in town. He handed me a few passes to that. We decided to go. We braved the weather. We got there and Michael came to the front of the store and made an announcement. He told us that the band is here, and we will be taking requests for tunes and he also announced the band for the evening. That night in a small 150 seat club was the same lineup on the album. We looked at each other and were in shock that the high caliber of musicians we heard on the CD were going to the stuff live.

The funny part of the solo show was that Michael told all of us that he found out that the 10pm band canceled so he was informed that he could play a longer set. The three hour show was one of the best shows I heard in my life. The ride home felt like it would have been our last show ever, but we still went, and it was worth every penny for a small price of $25.00. My friend thanked me for the best show he saw. Little did he know that in the future we saw other artist like Ornette Coleman, Charles Lloyd, Bill Bruford Earthwork's, Pat Metheny, and so many other Jazz greats. The Brecker show proved an all star band does not need to get in the way of egos.



On the way to work one day in 2006 I was listening to the radio and they mentioned that Michael Brecker had Leukemia. I was a bit heart broken. A man of such great importance has this disease. This cannot be true. When I got home from work I called my friend who I went to the show with and told him the bad news. He took it pretty hard. Brecker meant a lot to us. He played on some great albums. He was on a great Pat Metheny album called 80/81. He had his own albums that really defined a Jazz world that needed his music. The DJ told us the listeners that Michael is working on a new album with another all star cast. This included Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Brad Mehldau, John Patitucci, and Jack DeJohnette. It was sad to see him go through this.

In January 2007 Michael Brecker passed away at the age of 57. He has been heard on over 700 albums and guests on artists like Steely Dan, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Aerosmith, Frank Zappa, Frank Sinatra and so many others. His album Pilgrimage is his last and one of his best. With the all stars in place they made an album that to this day sound so fresh that it could be put out ten years from now and still sound so great. With only nine songs on the album the album is just about 80 minutes long. My only wish is to hear what they threw away. The song "Tumbleweed." Most of the rest of the program consists of uptempo and medium-tempo burners that swing with a powerful sense of urgency and life, and precious little foreshadowing of the tragedy that all involved knew was soon to come. This is a brilliant and inspiring album -- and would be whether or not it had anything to do with the death of one of the great figures in American jazz. is still the highlight of the album. Enjoy!