Home » Jazz Articles » Randy Brecker
Jazz Articles about Randy Brecker
Randy Brecker with the DePaul University Jazz Ensemble: Dearborn Station
by Jack Bowers
Dearborn Station, the tenth album recorded by the superb DePaul University Jazz Ensemble at Joe Segal's legendary Jazz Showcase (in Chicago's historic Dearborn Station, hence the title), is another bright and rhythmic tour de force for director / trumpeter Bob Lark's intrepid undergrads and their special guest, trumpeter Randy Brecker, whose perceptive solos enhance the first half-dozen of the album's nine tracks. On the last of the six, Lark and Brecker join forces to fan the flames on Tom Matta's ...
Continue ReadingRandy Brecker: A Fusion Legacy
by R.J. DeLuke
On stage at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland last July, the ubiquitous trumpeter Randy Brecker lowered his horn after playing two joyous and funky numbers on the stage that is one of the festivals largest venues, serving as a hockey arena during the appropriate season. There were throngs of people, sitting and standing, gleefully taking in the music. After wiping his forehead, Brecker formally announced his group: the Brecker Brothers Reunion Band. “We play FUSION," he ...
Continue ReadingThe Brecker Brothers Band Reunion
by John Kelman
With the tragic passing of Michael Brecker in 2007 at the all-too-young age of 57, it seemed that the flagship group the Brecker Brothers, co-led by the saxophonist with his trumpet-wielding older brother Randy, was also to be a thing of the past. But some things never die; as it was, during the saxophonist's lifetime, the horn-led band that defined the term “downtown funk" and an edgy, urban sound that could only have come from New York City seemed to ...
Continue ReadingRandy Brecker: Night in Calisia
by Nicholas F. Mondello
The waters of history significantly bathe Kalisz, Poland's oldest city. Specifically, they source back when Kalisz was an important stop on the Amber Road to Rome. Historical streams of another type also run broadly through this exuberantly satisfying recording offered by the triumvirate of trumpeter, Randy Brecker, pianist/composer Wlodek Pawlik, and the hometown Kalisz Philharmonic.This is a sprawling, beautiful and inspiring performance which, through Pawlik's effusive musical pageantry, Brecker's outstanding playing, and the orchestra's hometown fervor, appropriately helped ...
Continue ReadingThe Complete Arista Albums Collection
by John Kelman
When fusion first emerged in the late 1960s/early '70s with artists like trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Chick Corea and guitarist John McLaughlin, the emphasis was on guitar and keyboard heavy lineups like Return to Forever and Mahavishnu Orchestra, with an equally strong predilection for the intensity and volume of rock and a kind of thundering funk that was different than the kind of music coming from R&B and soul artists like Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire. Parallel to ...
Continue ReadingRandy Brecker with DR Big Band: The Jazz Ballad Song Book
by Andrew J. Sammut
Randy Brecker with DR Big Band The Jazz Ballad Song Book HalfNote Records 2011 On The Jazz Ballad Song Book, trumpeter Randy Brecker, the Danish Radio Big Band and Danish National Chamber Orchestra approach the slow, wistful side of this repertoire as one dimension among others. They expand their view outside of standards to include film works, lesser-known tunes and original compositions. As featured soloist, Brecker displays the colossal tone, impeccable ...
Continue ReadingMingus Big Band: Live at the Jazz Standard
by AAJ Italy Staff
L'indispensabile repertorio mingusiano, com'è noto, vive soprattutto grazie agli sforzi della vedova Sue e a un paio di formazioni che ad esso si sono dedicate mani e piedi dopo la morte del grande bassista (nello specifico prima ancora compositore). La Mingus Big Band in particolare dà alle energetiche, vociferanti pagine mingusiane quell'atavico respiro orchestrale che di fatto l'autore per primo perseguiva anche nei suoi piccoli gruppi (almeno dal sestetto in su). Questo album specifico vive dell'incastro fra i temi (anche ...
Continue Reading
