Michael Brecker (born March 29, 1949 in Philadelphia - died January 13, 2007 in NYC)

Alice Coltrane (born August 27, 1937 in Detroit - died January 12, 2007 in Los Angeles)

I confess my ignorance of the work of Alice Coltrane. She was a respected woman in jazz, a pioneer in the expansion of the jazz spirit, from Detroit. I personally lost interest in John Coltrane's work after the quartet, pretty much. I guess I'm due to go back and listen to her - friends say her fall concert in Ann Arbor was excellent.

The New York Times called Michael Brecker the most influential tenor saxophonist since Wayne Shorter. I can go with that - I'll say, "Michael Brecker created a seamless jazz/rock/pop saxophone style of optimistic, powerful tone and unsurpassed virtuosity".

I saw his quartet performance November 12, 1998 at the Ark in Ann Arbor. Pianist Joey Calderazzo was playing over a cold, Jeff "Tain" Watts was on drums and probably James Genus on bass though I don't remember. The crowd was a little sparse but it was a very good humored set, in a great setting - the Ark hardly does jazz anymore and it's a shame because the sound and atmosphere are everything you could want. It can be overpowering to witness that kind of virtuosity but with the mood Brecker's group brought it was elating. I think that is key to Brecker's appeal - he made outrageously difficult playing fun to listen to.

Here is an example, the Thad Jones slow blues "Sho' Nuff Did" from the 1976 A&M album "Mel Lewis & Friends". The band is Brecker, Greg Herbert on alto, Cecil Bridgewater (1st solo) and Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Hank Jones, Ron Carter and leader Mel Lewis. Here is Brecker's solo as transcribed in the LP notes

From the concert video "Shadows and Light", Joni Mitchell performs "Free Man in Paris" with a backup band of Brecker, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, Jaco Pastorius and Don Alias, recorded September 1979 at the County Bowl Bowl in Santa Barbara CA. Brecker solos.

In my own lo-fi rip from LP to cassette and thence to MP3, from the December 1976 concert recording "Zappa in New York", Frank Zappa performs "the Purple Lagoon", a solo feature for Mike, Frank, Ronnie Cuber on bari, Patrick O'Hearn on bass and Mike's older brother Randy on ring modulated trumpet.

Finally, from his eponymous December 1986 debut LP, here is "Original Rays". Michael begins the tune on the EWI, a reed instrument / synthesizer interface.

Anyway, Michael was one of the great instrumentalists of my generation and I'm sad to see him go. There is a Michael Brecker home page with statements from the family but it has this big honking high bandwidth introduction that didn't work too well on my doggy old P3. Anyway, the family has requested that donations in Michael Brecker's memory be made to The Marrow Foundation's TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE FUND.