Message to Michael

Randy Brecker: The jazz trumpet player will honor his brother, the late saxaphonist Michael Brecker, during this year’s JGB Syracuse Jazz Fest. MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTO

Fellow saxophonist Dave Liebman, who
played with Miles Davis in the early 1970s, agrees. “Mike was a
dedicated practicer,” he remembers. “He was continuously creative, and
he was very thoughtful. He developed his own vocabulary, his own style.” 

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And Randy Brecker, the renowned jazz
trumpet player in his own right and older brother of Michael, joins the
consensus. “Mike loved music for music’s sake,” Randy Brecker observes.
“He was learning every day, setting a path for himself.”

Frank Malfitano, executive director of
the JGB Syracuse Jazz Fest, also has respect and admiration for
Brecker, who died in January 2007 from bone marrow disease at age 57,
and that respect led Malfitano to dedicate this year’s run of the jazz
blowout to Brecker, as well as to the late pianist Joe Zawinul, who
also passed away in 2007. The “All-Star Tribute to Michael Brecker” by
the Mike Stern Band featuring Randy Brecker will commence on Saturday,
June 28, 7:30 p.m., on the main stage at Onondaga Community College,
4585 W. Seneca Turnpike. 

Malfitano fondly remembers Michael
Brecker’s impact on jazz. “The Brecker Brothers played at Jazz Fest in
1992 on a rainy night in Clinton Square,” he recalls. “They wowed the
crowd. Michael was so unassuming. He was admired for straddling pop,
funk, soul and jazz.” 

Michael Brecker’s journey to his final, posthumously released CD, Pilgrimage
(Heads Up), was as long as it was diverse. Beginning with the jazz-rock
fusion group Dreams, a collaboration with Randy in 1970, to the sax
player collaboration Saxaphone Summit’s Gathering of Spirits (Telarc), the exploration of the spirit of John Coltrane with Lavano and Liebman in 2004 and eventually to Pilgrimage, Brecker performed with an eclectic collection of musicians over an extended swath of popular music. 

But it was Brecker’s evolution into a
composer and the careful nurturing of his own unique voice that has
left the deepest footprint. Lovano and Liebman, along with fellow
saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, the son of John and Alice Coltrane,
dedicated Saxaphone Summit’s Seraphic Light (Telarc) to Brecker. Each musician has their own perspectives on Brecker’s music. 

“Mike played in a lot of rock’n’roll,
fusion and electronic power bands,” Lovano remembers. “But he came back
to acoustic music later. He was a studio musician on many dates, and he
brought many diverse, world influences to his music.” 

Both Liebman and Lavano note the
interest Brecker had in the later period of Coltrane’s music. “He was
like Coltrane,” Lavano says. “He was looking for musical elements
beyond the ordinary, reaching for the energy and execution of Coltrane.” 

Lavano’s impression of Brecker’s contribution to Saxaphone Summit’s Gathering of Spirits
is especially poignant. “Liebman and Mike grew up together,” Lavano
says. “Mike and I came up together in the 1970s. There was a strong
energy and communication there, and split-second timing. We were on
each other’s tails.” 

For Lavano, Liebman and Brecker, that
energy extended to Brecker’s final gig, a Saxophone Summit appearance
at Birdland in New York in March 2005.

Randy Brecker’s career, from the first Blood, Sweat and Tears LP in 1968 to his contribution to Seraphic Light, has left its own protean imprint on pop, funk and jazz. The trumpet player has a similar understanding of his brother’s music. 

“Mike had a new conception of music,” he
observes, “He played tenor in a lot of rhythm’n’blues, pop and jazz
bands, and his music is really an amalgam of those styles put together
in his own way: his own special way of composing. It kind of came out
of left field.” 

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But for all the notable stops along Brecker’s illustrious and fruitful journey, it may well be Pilgrimage that leaves the most notable impression. “His music had matured,” Randy Brecker says. “Pilgrimage
is closer to his jazz roots. At that point he chose to forgo his pop
and rock roots. He strove to achieve a high level of spontaneity. Pilgrimage
is a shining example of what he worked for his whole life. He worked
his spirit into the music. It was very positive, very rich. A mystery.
God at work.”

Malfitano, never one to mince words,
agrees with the prevailing sentiment. “I’m a huge Michael Brecker fan,”
Malfitano says proudly. “He’s the most influential saxophonist since
Coltrane.” 

Malfitano’s decision to dedicate the
26th annual Jazz Fest to Brecker first arose from the March 2007
memorial tribute to Brecker at New York City’s Town Hall. Attended by
what Malfitano called “the international jazz community’s ‘A’ list,”
the event featured live gigging from Randy Brecker and Pat Metheny, as
well as an “outlaw” performance by Dave Liebman on a Bulgarian flute,
in deference to Michael’s wife Susan, who had requested no saxophone
performances. 

“The power of the moment,” Malfitano remembers, “compelled me to dedicate Jazz Fest to Michael.” 

The JGB Jazz Fest tribute to Brecker has
the potential to go beyond the scheduled act, which will include
guitarist Mike Stern and his band (drummer Dave Weckl, bassist Chris
Minh Doky, and Randy Brecker.) “We’ve got the Mouton Reunion Band,
{saxophonist} Bill Evans and Chaka Khan all on the same day,” Malfitano
points out. “There could be a jam tribute to Michael {Brecker}. We’re
planting the seeds for synergy to take place.” 

Randy Brecker also speculates on that
possibility. “We’re probably going to do some of Mike’s {Stern} tunes
and some of Michael’s {Brecker} tunes. Maybe ‘Some Skunk Funk,’ ‘Inside
Out,’ or Brecker’s tune ‘Strap Hanging.’ ” 

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“Bill Evans could sit in,” Randy Brecker
notes. “Could there be a jam? There’s going to be a high level of
spontaneity. It all fits. Something’s bound to happen!” Potentially,
it’s a moment that Michael Brecker himself would have seized.