Randy Brecker's latest, "34th N Lex" Hits the Streets on April 22, 2003

One of the most outstanding trumpeters, composers and arrangers on the jazz scene over the past 30 years, Randy Brecker crafts from a larger canvas on his latest recording as a leader, 34th N Lex ( ESC 4909, April 22 release ).

A paean to his Manhattan neighborhood as potent and in-your-face as the city itself, this urban-edged offering features Randy's working quintet augmented by a dream horn section including his brother Michael Brecker on tenor sax, David Sanborn on alto sax and Ronnie Cuber on baritone sax along with the great funkateer and former James Brown/P-Funk sideman, trombonist Fred Wesley.

Hard bop and swaggering funk are the watchwords of this hard-hitting session, which follows Brecker's audacious 2000 offering on ESC Records, Hangin' in the City,his infamous collection of “Songs of Rhyme, Reason, Romance & Raunch" which unleashed unto the world the audacious (and rather horny) rapping character of Randroid.

“There just wasn't room for ol' Randroid on this one," says Randy. “There was too much other material that I wanted to do. I've had this band of younger guys (guitarist Adam Rogers, keyboardist George Whitty, bassist Chris Minh Doky and drummer Clarence Penn) and we've toured all over the world the last three or four years. So for this project I wanted to feature them with special guests, using guys that I've played with coming up through the years. So it's mixing some of the older generation with some of the younger generation."

From the Latin-flavored title track, featuring some ferocious exchanges between Ronnie Cuber and Michael Brecker, to the urgent Brecker Brothers-ish funk-fusion of “Hula Dula"; from the vintage “60s soul-jazz Eddie Harris-Les McCann groove of “Shanghigh" to the subdued smooth- funk vehicle “Streeange," 34th N Lex covers a representative sampling of the music that Randy has loved and played over his illustrious career. His roots are covered here by the hard boppish “Tokyo Freddie," an uptempo burner that he composed while touring Japan and in a Freddie Hubbard-ish frame of mind, while he steps into some new territory on “All 4 Love," a contemporary groover with an infectious hook and sensuous vocal delivery by singer J Phoenix, a participant in a recent Tupac Shakur tribute album which has hit big in Europe.

Randy's intent on 34th N Lex was to capture the hustle and bustle of New York City and convey that urgent energy in no uncertain terms. As he explains, “34th & Lexington Avenue is where I lived for about the last ten years. This street corner really typifies, to me, what's great about New York. It's a real crossroads kind of place. I can go in any direction and in five minutes I'm somewhere. So it's been a great place to live. It's definitely got a lot of character. It's a noisy corner but I'm just used to it. I kind of enjoy all the chaos. And I think subconsciously that really had an influence on just everything I've been writing since living here. It's an old building, they don't have double windows so I'm just always surrounded by city sounds whether I like it or not, and that's bound to seep into the music."