31 Comments
Jan 12, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Thanks for this great tribute.

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Jan 12, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Ted, thanks as always for your wonderful work. I’ve forwarded this to my son, one of those practice-room dwelling sax (alto) 25 year old demon geeks and my personal hero. It was also a pleasure to see you mention Brecker’s 1987 album. Many years before, probably around 1974-5, I played briefly in a RNR band that included Kenny Kirkland, another wonderful talent gone way too soon.

You did a fine job with this article. Thanks again!!

Joe

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Hearing the Brecker Brothers was revelation. Hearing Michael Brecker play in so many different musical settings was stunning beyond belief. Corea's Three Quartets stands out in my mind. I'm gonna spin his first solo record now.

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Jan 12, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Excellent article! Thank you.

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I haven't heard too many of his records, but I am sure interested in checking them out now.

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Jan 13, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

The first two Brecker solo albums represent the best post-Coltrane sax recordings IMO. A beautiful contrast of acoustic and electric music that was both informed by the past and utterly original. I enjoyed the thoughtful take on his place in modern music, a proper legacy is hard to define when it’s built on such diverse blocks.

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Michael Brecker was certainly an incredible saxophonist. I am not a saxophone player nor student, and as an artist he never made much of an impression on me beyond sounding like the zenith of what every saxophonist off of the jazz academy assembly line wanted to sound like. Most musicians I know are absolutely in awe of anyone with amazing technical facility on their axe, but that in and of itself is not an endorsement of their lasting artistic value. I have not made a study of his work and am not qualified to deliver a learned critical assessment, but I did find this essay on line on the Jazz Duck blog which offers a more critical view: https://thejazzduck.wordpress.com/2019/01/14/artist-essay-explaining-michael-brecker-to-myself/

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Jan 13, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

I always seen Michael Brecker and Steve Grossman as giants from the 1970's and especially 1980s on as two of the standard bearers of the Tenor saxophone sad both are gone now but there body of work speak volumes to me.

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Jan 13, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Michael Brecker is arguably the most influential tenor sax artist since Wayne Shorter and he clearly deserves greater attention. Thanks, Ted.

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Great and poignant piece, Ted. My two cents: Many of our critical compatriots saw Brecker as a “studio cat,” which unfairly reduced his jazz cred among writers and jazz influencers back in the day. Also: you may have seen the recent Facebook posts about Joe Henderson’s beef that Brecker stole his licks. The feeling that Joe Hen was being ripped off by a young whippersnapper, who was also White, may have subconsciously caused critics - in showing sympathy for an older Black musician - to deny Brecker his flowers, which is sad, because I’m quite sure Brecker was hurt by Joe Hen’s jeremiads. That being said, kudos to Bill for a great book, and to you Ted for this informative essay.

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Again. Thank you for this wonderful article. I’ve just tweeted this to a friend who I’ve played with over the years, altoist Steve Smith. He’s just shot back a big thank you to you. As Steve put it, Michael Brecker was always a God. Again, thank you so much.

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Jan 13, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

I never listened to him a lot. Chuck Nessa of Nessa Records, after someone posted your article on Organissimo, wrote “I have never listened to him on purpose. No judgment, just truth.”

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Thanks for the great price, Ted. I know what I’m listening to today.

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Jan 13, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

I had no idea that Michael Brecker was terminally ill when my wife and I saw him play with Herbie Hancock, et al in Fort Worth, Texas. However, I knew he was and remains the standard by which all saxophonists must measure themselves. Thank you, good sir, for your excellent article to say so! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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Hi Ted! I'm reading Louis Menand's "The Free World" about the dramatic expansion of higher education after WWI due to the GI Bill and other factors (Chapter 13).

He says, "Expansion on that scale and involving those sums was bound to have an effect on cultural and intellectual life. In some areas, the university supplemented or replaced 'Bohemia' -- communities like Greenwich Village, Provincetown, and North Beach -- as a space for independent art and thought".

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this as a component of the decline of the jazz scene and the ascendancy of jazz education.

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Jan 13, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

80/81 clued me in.

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