Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

RADIO September 15, 2020

Michael Brecker, Steven Bernstein and the Art of Jazz-Hacking the Pop World - Part 2

This is the second part of our exploration of Michael Brecker's and Steven Bernstein's work as first-call musicians in the world of high-end pop productions. Their capacity to adapt to the demands of these productions while remaining true to their jazz roots has offered millions of listeners that might have looked at jazz with a grain of diffidence an opportunity to re-assess their skepticism. Brecker and Bernstein musicians that have played and keep playing a prime role in ...

RADIO April 5, 2020

March Birthdays

By Marc Cohn

March birthdays this week on G&M! And some big ones too! Celebrating 90th birthdays: Ornette Coleman, Blue Mitchell and Tommy Flanagan. Celebrating 80th birthdays: Al Jarreau as well as Lew Tabackin, Ralph Towner and Astrud Gilberto} (the latter 3 still with us). Also, among the living, {{m: Wolfgang Muthspiel, Jessica Williams and Ralph Alessi. And, wherever you are: Michael Brecker, Mark Murphy and Sarah Vaughan. If you're hunkered down for the duration, remember we have over 50 shows of G&M ...

THE JAZZ LIFE March 18, 2020

How to Play a Tin Whistle Like Michael Brecker

By Peter Rubie

I was talking to a musician friend of mine the other day, asking her how her move from Brooklyn to Forrest Hills was going. She said, “I love it! I love the neighborhood and best of all, musically, I'm not running any more jam sessions at the moment, just doing gigs—and practicing! It's great." And practicing is a high for me as well. I miss it when I don't do it. Given that we are all wrestling with ...

INTERVIEW October 17, 2017

Wouter Turkenburg: Jazz Education in the New Millennium

By Victor L. Schermer

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 All About Jazz and Wouter Turkenburg would like to dedicate this interview to the memory of saxophonist Michael Brecker (1949-2007). In addition to his prodigious accomplishments as an instrumentalist and band leader, Brecker was an exceptional worldwide teacher and mentor, both by example and instruction in countless workshops and classes. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of Music ...

ALBUM REVIEW December 17, 2015

UMO Jazz Orchestra with Michael Brecker: Live in Helsinki 1995

By Jack Bowers

If your fondness for big-band jazz includes searching for hidden treasures, here's a recently uncovered gem that should more than gladden your spirit: a concert recording from 1995 by Finland's superb UMO Jazz Orchestra featuring the renowned tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker who left us far too soon a dozen years later at age fifty-seven. The impeccably preserved performance at Helsinki's Royal Cotton Club finds Brecker in his customarily assertive mode, sprinting through ten engaging compositions that run the gamut from ...

INTERVIEW March 29, 2015

Michael Brecker: He Can Groove Any Way You Want

By Mike Brannon

This article was originally published at All About Jazz in August 1998. Once one half of the world renown Brecker Brothers and full time studio legend, tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker relinquished that throne to form a group and deliver his own material. Though the Coltrane influence is present in spirit, its simultaneously transcended, skewered even, by the sheer strength and personality of Brecker's tone and seemingly infinite permutations of major seventh laden linear expressions. Although he ...

REDISCOVERY January 1, 2015

Michael Brecker: Now You See It...(Now You Don't)

By John Kelman

Michael Brecker Now You See It...(Now You Don't)MCA1990 Today's Rediscovery is Now You See It...(Now You Don't), by saxophone giant Michael Brecker. After the one-two punch of his first two recordings as a leader (excluding his 1982 collaboration with Claus Ogerman, Cityscape)-- Michael Brecker (Impulse!, 1987) and Don't Try This At Home (Impulse!, 1988), both featuring high profile guests including Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette and Herbie Hancock--Now You See It...(Now You ...