What are you listening to right now?

[jsaliga]

That's what I already said.

I know.  That was me just thinking outloud.  The discussion reminded me of the time I spent in the Middle East.  It wasn't just music that was pirated.  Computer software wasn't sold so much as it was copied.

--Jerome

[etcarroll]

Listening to more of the Mosaic set of Lee Morgan/Wayne Shorter, got an email announcing the new album by jazz trumpeter Randy Brecker, never heard of him. Anyone know his body of work?

http://www.jazziz.com/news/2011/07/26/randy-brecker%e2%80%99s-ballads-album/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JazzizMagazine+%28Jazziz+Magazine%29

[tmazz]

Listening to more of the Mosaic set of Lee Morgan/Wayne Shorter, got an email announcing the new album by jazz trumpeter Randy Brecker, never heard of him. Anyone know his body of work?

http://www.jazziz.com/news/2011/07/26/randy-brecker%e2%80%99s-ballads-album/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JazzizMagazine+%28Jazziz+Magazine%29

I only have two albums I can think of off hand that he played on. In the late 70s - early 80s he put out an album with his brother Michael as The Brecker B rothers entitled "Detente". It was a pop/disco /jazz album anlong the same lines as George Benson's "Give Me the Night". Originally released on Arista it was later picked up by Direct-Disk Labs, who released a half-speed mastered version of the album.




He was also plart of the all-star big band that Quincey Jones put together for the Sinatra Album "LA is My Lady" and is in fact mentioned in the lyrics of "Mack the Knife" in the part where Sinatra acknowledges members of the band:

"We got George Benson,
Newman foster
We got the Brecker Brothers'
And Hamp bringin up the rear"



But other than these two releases I am pretty much in the dark about his career as well.

More info here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Brecker

[tmazz]

Yes: Close to the Edge

LP

[jsaliga]

Here's a bio of Brecker on Allaboutjazz.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=5276

--Jerome

[richidoo]

Listening to more of the Mosaic set of Lee Morgan/Wayne Shorter, got an email announcing the new album by jazz trumpeter Randy Brecker, never heard of him. Anyone know his body of work?

http://www.jazziz.com/news/2011/07/26/randy-brecker%e2%80%99s-ballads-album/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JazzizMagazine+%28Jazziz+Magazine%29

Brecker is a very good player, been around 3 decades. He is Michael Brecker's brother, they had a band called Brecker Brothers. It is a modern style of trumpet, he plays some straight ahead jazz, and some rock oriented crossover. Some of it is excellent, some of it is boring or just sad. You have to check out the samples before you buy it.  Technical skill is 7/10 with Freddie at 10/10, chops are 6/10 where Maynard is 10/10.

Other current trumpeters of his type of playing would be Tim Hagans, Jim Rotondi, Eddie Henderson.

vids: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=randy+brecker&page=&utm_source=opensearch

[allenzachary]

Yes: Close to the Edge

LP

Video of the Steve Howe Trio performing a jazzy version of Close to the Edge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLEAqR8FOPE

[etcarroll]

Thanks Rich, that was the kind of feedback I was looking for - "Technical skill is 7/10 with Freddie at 10/10, chops are 6/10 where Maynard is 10/10."

After listening to the 3rd disk in the Morgan/Shorter set, (it kicks butt), can't see going backwards in my jazz trumpet listening.

Hey Tom - Do you actually have those 2 albums? You're one scary dude at times, right up there with Bill!

[tmazz]

Hey Tom - Do you actually have those 2 albums? You're one scary dude at times, right up there with Bill!

Not only do I have both albums, I knew where each one was and could put my hands on both of them in less than a minute.

Sometimes I even scare myself. 

[richidoo]

Gene, I wouldn't say Randy is backward progression, anymore than Booker is backward to Clifford. Just different.  He seems to be leaning more toward jazz these days than his previous inclinations,  because jazz/rock is even more dead than straight-ahead jazz. So the new record might be OK, on par with most other new releases. That is to say, technically interesting, with no soul or balls. I would wait for the Amazon samples, or hit his earlier recordings at his peak.

[allenzachary]

I've always considered the Breckers as sidemen.  Randy and Michael have played with all kinds of artists: Aerosmith, Parliament, Paul Simon, Lou Reed to name a few.  They are passable as sidemen and rarely lessen the quality of a performance; sometimes vastly improving the synergy. The music they create on their own, however, tends to be less interesting.

7/10 indeed.

[eleazar]

The Zombies

Goggle image 1965 Parrot Stereo LP                                                                                                

[richidoo]

I was fortunate to see Michael in some small hole in the Village like 55 or something like that, playing electric soprano, a couple years before he died. It was interesting, and the audience was quite captivated and hysterical over him. I had heard Bill Evans (sax) play a night of hard bop a few months earlier, which totally shook me to the core, Brecker didn't do that, nor Eric Alexander, nor any of the new tenor stars.

[tmazz]

Coweboy Junkies: Open

CD

[tmazz]

Gladys Knight: Before Me

CD

I saw this at the library and immediately thought that an album of Gladys Knight doing old jazz standards could prove very interesting. Well that anticipation quickly turned to disappointment upon playing the CD. Knight's vocal performances were just not up to the standards I expected given her R&B work. Her phrasing just always seemed a bit off with many awkward pauses.

Another time where I was glad I got this from the library and didn't have to lay out money to find out about this.