Randy Brecker
Encyclopedia
Randal "Randy" Brecker is an American
trumpet
er and flugelhorn
ist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz
, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine
, Billy Cobham
, Bruce Springsteen
, Lou Reed
, Sandip Burman
, Charles Mingus
, Blood, Sweat & Tears
, Horace Silver
, Frank Zappa
, Parliament-Funkadelic
, Chris Parker
, Jaco Pastorius
, Dire Straits
, Todd Rundgren
, Blue Öyster Cult
, Richard Barone
, Spyro Gyra
, Barbara Dennerlein
and many others. In his formative years, Brecker studied trumpet with Bill Adam
at Indiana University.
, but left the band when founder Al Kooper
and trumpeter Jerry Weiss left. Lew Soloff
replaced him for the second and subsequent albums. He was a charter member of Larry Coryell
's seminal jazz fusion
band The Eleventh House
in 1973.
He is the older brother of the late jazz saxophonist Michael Brecker
(1949–2007). Together they led Dreams
and the Brecker Brothers
, a popular funk and fusion band which recorded several albums from the 1970s through the 1990s.
After the Brecker Brothers disbanded in 1982, Randy recorded and toured as a member of Jaco Pastorius
' Word of Mouth big band. It was soon thereafter that he met and later married Brazilian jazz pianist Eliane Elias
. Eliane and Randy formed their own band, touring the world several times and recording one album together, Amanda on Passport Records.
In the summer of 2001, Randy reunited with his brother Michael for a Europe tour with an acoustic version of the Brecker Brothers, also promoting songs from Hangin´ In The City. His most recent CD for ESC, 34th N Lex released in April 2003, features eleven new Randy Brecker compositions and arrangements and the "dream horn section" of David Sanborn
, Michael Brecker, Fred Wesley
and Ronnie Cuber
, along with Randy's regular working band and his current wife, the Italian tenor saxophonist Ada Rovatti, whose playing style bears a striking resemblance to Michael Brecker's. He is part of the GRP All-Star Big Band
.
All Stars
With Aerosmith
With Carla Bley
With Blood Sweat & Tears
With Brother Jack McDuff
With Alphonse Mouzon
With Jaco Pastorius
With Duke Pearson
With Lou Reed
With Horace Silver
With Miroslav Vitous
With g.org
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
er and flugelhorn
Flugelhorn
The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
ist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine
Stanley Turrentine
Stanley William Turrentine, also known as "Mr. T" or "The Sugar Man", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Turrentine was born in Pittsburgh's Hill District into a musical family...
, Billy Cobham
Billy Cobham
William C. Cobham is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who has called Switzerland home since the late 1970s....
, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, Sandip Burman
Sandip Burman
Sandip Burman is a tabla player from Durgapur, West Bengal, India.After his initial training with Shri Sudhir Roy, he began a long discipleship with the distinguished Pandit Shymal Bose. Sandip's performances are marked with spontaneous innovation and tonal purity even when he is delivering complex...
, Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
, Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American music group, originally formed in 1967 in New York City. Since its beginnings in 1967, the band has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a multitude of musical styles...
, Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic is a funk, soul and rock music collective headed by George Clinton. Their style has been dubbed P-Funk. Collectively the group has existed under various names since the 1960s and has been known for top-notch musicianship, politically charged lyrics, outlandish concept albums...
, Chris Parker
Chris Parker
Christopher Parker may refer to:*Christopher Parker , British Member of Parliament for Clitheroe, Lancashire, 1708-1713*Christopher Parker , English actor and television presenter...
, Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
, Dire Straits
Dire Straits
Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...
, Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
, Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult, often abbreviated BÖC, is an American rock band, most of whose members first came together in Long Island, NY in 1967 as the band Soft White Underbelly...
, Richard Barone
Richard Barone
Richard Barone is a rock musician born in Tampa, Florida who gained attention as frontman for The Bongos. He works as a songwriter, arranger, author, director, and producer, releases albums as a solo artist, tours, and has created major concert events at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl and New York's...
, Spyro Gyra
Spyro Gyra
Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion band that was originally formed in the mid-1970s in Buffalo, New York, USA. With over 25 albums released and 10 million copies sold, they are among the most prolific as well as commercially successful groups of the genre...
, Barbara Dennerlein
Barbara Dennerlein
Barbara Dennerlein , is a hard bop and post-bop Hammond B3 organist.-Early years:At age 11, Dennerlein began playing electronic organ. After starting organ lessons, she learned to play the two manual organ with a bass pedalboard. After one and a half years of lessons she continued to study without...
and many others. In his formative years, Brecker studied trumpet with Bill Adam
William Adam (trumpeter)
William Adam is an American trumpeter, respected pedagogue, and Professor Emeritus at Indiana University. He was highly analytical as a teacher, but always avoided discussing the mechanical aspects of trumpet playing with a student. Instead he "taught" by demonstration and by explanation in terms...
at Indiana University.
Career
He played on the first Blood Sweat & Tears album, Child Is Father to the ManChild Is Father to the Man
Child Is Father to the Man is the debut album by Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in February of 1968. It reached number 47 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart.-History:...
, but left the band when founder Al Kooper
Al Kooper
Al Kooper is an American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears , providing studio support for Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965, and also bringing together guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills to...
and trumpeter Jerry Weiss left. Lew Soloff
Lew Soloff
Lew Soloff is a jazz trumpeter, composer and actor. He studied trumpet at the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School. He is likely best known for his work with Blood, Sweat & Tears from 1968 to 1973...
replaced him for the second and subsequent albums. He was a charter member of Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell is an American jazz fusion guitarist.-Biography:Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas. He graduated from Richland High School, in Richland, Washington, where he played in local bands The Jailers, The Rumblers, The Royals, and The Flames. He also played with The Checkers from nearby...
's seminal jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
band The Eleventh House
The Eleventh House
The Eleventh House was an important jazz fusion group of the 1970s led by guitarist Larry Coryell. The band was formed in 1973 and disbanded in 1976...
in 1973.
He is the older brother of the late jazz saxophonist Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
(1949–2007). Together they led Dreams
Dreams (band)
Dreams was one of the original prominent jazz rock bands in the period of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and recorded for Columbia Records. Dreams was formed by Jeff Kent and Doug Lubahn, who together wrote and arranged all their original songs. The band began as a trio and evolved into a...
and the Brecker Brothers
Brecker Brothers
The Brecker Brothers was the musical duo of Michael and Randy Brecker , who recorded commercially successful jazz fusion albums together in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. They had a notable hit single with "East River" in 1979...
, a popular funk and fusion band which recorded several albums from the 1970s through the 1990s.
After the Brecker Brothers disbanded in 1982, Randy recorded and toured as a member of Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
' Word of Mouth big band. It was soon thereafter that he met and later married Brazilian jazz pianist Eliane Elias
Eliane Elias
Eliane Elias is a Brazilian jazz pianist, arranger, vocalist and songwriter.-Biography:...
. Eliane and Randy formed their own band, touring the world several times and recording one album together, Amanda on Passport Records.
In the summer of 2001, Randy reunited with his brother Michael for a Europe tour with an acoustic version of the Brecker Brothers, also promoting songs from Hangin´ In The City. His most recent CD for ESC, 34th N Lex released in April 2003, features eleven new Randy Brecker compositions and arrangements and the "dream horn section" of David Sanborn
David Sanborn
David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
, Michael Brecker, Fred Wesley
Fred Wesley
Fred Wesley is an American jazz and funk trombonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...
and Ronnie Cuber
Ronnie Cuber
Ronnie Cuber is a jazz saxophonist. He has also played in Latin, pop, rock and blues sessions. In addition to his primary instrument, baritone sax, he has also played tenor sax, soprano sax and flute, the latter on an album by Eddie Palmieri. As a leader, Cuber is known for hard bop and Latin jazz...
, along with Randy's regular working band and his current wife, the Italian tenor saxophonist Ada Rovatti, whose playing style bears a striking resemblance to Michael Brecker's. He is part of the GRP All-Star Big Band
GRP All-Star Big Band
The GRP Band was a group compiled in the late 1980s under the direction of Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen, principles of GRP Records. The band was a full band, and they mostly played well-known jazz pieces from the 1950s and 1960s written by famous musicians and composers...
.
As leader
- Score (1969) Blue Note
- The Brecker Brothers (1975) Arista
- Back to Back - The Brecker Brothers (1976) Arista
- Don't Stop the Music - The Brecker Brothers(1977) Arista
- The Atlantic Family Live in Montreaux (1977)
- Heavy Metal Bebop - The Brecker Brothers (1978) Arista
- - The Brecker Brothers (1980) Arista
- Straphangin - The Brecker Brothers (1981) Arista
- Amanda(1985) Passport
- In the Idiom (1986) Denon
- Live at Sweet Basil (1988) GNP Crescendo
- Toe to Toe (1990) MCA
- Return of the Brecker Brothers - The Brecker Brothers (1992) GRP
- Out of the LoopOut of the Loop (Brecker Brothers album)Out of the Loop is an album by the Brecker Brothers, released through GRP Records in 1994. In 1995, the album won the brothers the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance .-Reception:...
- The Brecker Brothers (1994) GRP - Into the SunInto the Sun (Randy Brecker album)Into the Sun is an album by the Randy Brecker, released through Concord Jazz in 1997. In 1998, the album won Brecker the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance .-Track listing:...
(1995) Concord Jazz - Katewalk - Lew Del Gatto (1997) Naxos Jazz
- Hangin' in the City (2001) ESC
- 34th N Lex (2003) ESC
- Some Skunk Funk" (2006) BHM
- Some Skunk Funk - with Michael Brecker (2005) Telarc
- Box of Photographs (2005) - Johnny Rodgers & The Johnny Rodgers Band
- Unprecedented Clarity - Pitch Pine Project with Randy Brecker (2007) Challenge Records
- Randy in BrasilRandy in BrasilRandy in Brasil is an album by Randy Brecker, released through Mama Records on September 9, 2008. In 2009, the album won Brecker the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.-Track listing:# "Pedro Brasil" – 4:30# "Ilê Ayê" – 4:19...
(2008) Summit RecordsSummit RecordsSummit Records, Inc. is an internationally distributed record label that evolved out of the dynamic large brass ensemble, Summit Brass in the late 1980s...
/MAMA Records
As sideman
With Arkadia JazzArkadia Jazz
Arkadia Jazz is an American jazz record label.Postcards Records is a division of Arkadia Jazz "focusing on electro-acoustic recordings by boundry-challengers".Brazilian jazz ensemble Nova Bossa Nova released their one album for the label....
All Stars
- Thank You, Joe!
With Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...
- Get Your WingsGet Your Wings-Side two:-Song information:Same Old Song and Dance*Built around a riff Joe Perry came up with while sitting on his amp, Steven Tyler quickly came up with the verse riff. The song appears in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock...
- (1974)
With Carla Bley
Carla Bley
Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...
- Night-GloNight-GloNight-Glo is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley with bassist Steve Swallow recorded and released on the Watt/ECM label in 1985.-Reception:...
With Blood Sweat & Tears
- Child Is Father to the ManChild Is Father to the ManChild Is Father to the Man is the debut album by Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in February of 1968. It reached number 47 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart.-History:...
- (1968) Columbia
With Brother Jack McDuff
Jack McDuff
"Brother" Jack McDuff was an American jazz organist and organ trio bandleader who was most prominent during the hard bop and soul jazz era of the 1960s, often performing with an organ trio.-Career:...
- Who Knows What Tomorrow's Gonna Bring?Who Knows What Tomorrow's Gonna Bring?Who Knows What Tomorrow's Gonna Bring? is an album by American organist Brother Jack McDuff recorded in 1970 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
- (1970) Blue Note
With Alphonse Mouzon
Alphonse Mouzon
Alphonse Mouzon is a well-known jazz-fusion drummer and percussionist, and the Chairman/CEO of Tenacious Records. He also composes, arranges and produces, as well as acts...
- Funky SnakefootFunky SnakefootFunky Snakefoot is the second album by American jazz drummer Alphonse Mouzon recorded in 1973 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
- (1973) Blue Note
With Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
- Jaco Pastorius - (1976)
- Invitation - (1983)
With Duke Pearson
Duke Pearson
Duke Pearson was an American jazz pianist and composer. Allmusic notes him as being a "big part in shaping the Blue Note label's hard bop direction in the 1960s as a producer."-History:...
- Introducing Duke Pearson's Big BandIntroducing Duke Pearson's Big BandIntroducing Duke Pearson's Big Band is the eleventh album by American pianist and arranger Duke Pearson featuring big band performances recorded in 1967 and released on the Blue Note label...
- (1967) Blue Note - Now Hear ThisNow Hear This (Duke Pearson album)Now Hear This is the thirteenth album by American pianist and arranger Duke Pearson. It features big band performances recorded in 1968 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
- (1968) Blue Note
With Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
- BerlinBerlin (album)Berlin is a 1973 album by Lou Reed, his third solo album and the follow-up to Transformer. In 2003, the album was ranked number 344 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, though the publication had called the album a "disaster" 30 years prior.-Background and...
- (1973) RCA
With Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
- In Pursuit of the 27th ManIn Pursuit of the 27th ManIn Pursuit of the 27th Man is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1972 featuring performances by Silver with David Friedman, Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, Bob Cranshaw, and Mickey Roker. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars and states...
- (1972) Blue Note - A Prescription for the BluesA Prescription for the BluesA Prescription for the Blues is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Impulse! label in 1997 featuring performances by Silver with Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, Ron Carter, and Louis Hayes...
- (1997) Impulse!
With Miroslav Vitous
Miroslav Vitouš
Miroslav Ladislav Vitouš , is a Czech jazz bassist.-Biography:Born in Prague, he began the violin at age six, and started playing the piano at age ten, and bass at fourteen. As a young man in Europe, Vitouš was a competitive swimmer. One of his early music groups was the Junior Trio with his...
- Universal Syncopations IIUniversal Syncopations IIUniversal Syncopations II is an album by Czech bassist Miroslav Vitous recorded in 2004-05 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Alex Henderson awarded the album 3½ stars stating "The interesting thing is that while Universal Syncopations 2 stresses ensemble playing and...
(1995) ECM
With g.org
- A New Kind of Blue - (2004)