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Brecker's notebooks

11K views 51 replies 25 participants last post by  jan sax 
#1 ·
I keep reading about and hearing about notebooks of ideas that Brecker used to keep. Does anyone know if these things are going to be published or if they've been released to the world in some way, yet? I read a comment on a thread on SoTW that said he was very protective of them.
 
#2 ·
I'm still surprised to see the lack of almost anything after his death. His last album was released but that was it. I figured at least a cd worth of remarkable board mixes from shows around the world, a "Best Of ..." cd, at least an anthology "box set" type of release with maybe some never before released trax (you know they exist) ... nothing ...
Quincy Jones had an interesting chapter in his autobiography about when Clifford Brown died, Quincy walked down to the newstand when he heard the news and was going to buy some copies of the paper so he could show his son later in life "I knew this cat ...." thinking it was going to be like headline news, or at least headline in the arts section but there was nothing at all ... kinda how I felt after Breker passing ...
 
#17 ·
I'm still surprised to see the lack of almost anything after his death. His last album was released but that was it. I figured at least a cd worth of remarkable board mixes from shows around the world, a "Best Of ..." cd, at least an anthology "box set" type of release with maybe some never before released trax (you know they exist) ... nothing ......
Have to agree with you there. I thought some unreleased tracks or alternate takes would have surfaced by now. Bret Primack (JazzVideoGuy on YouTube) knew Michael fairly well, and I asked him if he knew of anything in the works. Unfortunately the answer was no.
 
#5 ·
~ In the decades...I knew Michael from his Horace Silver days, when we first met & jammed at Berklee in the mid-day with my friends drummer Joe Hunt and mallet man Dave Sammuels & others...everyone knew Michael was sent here to knock us out. And he did!!!!:)

The times I was in his loft or home, he always had something going that was amazing. Yet he was like still thinking it was so-so. He was a killer drummer, I mean at a point where he could of played road gigs with TOP!!! And I'm not joking. He tracked a Eddie Harris CD once, last time we hung....and played drums with the " Listen Here" cut note for note. He also, could _HEAR_your NEXT NOTE AS YA PLAYED IT. If you played 4's with him you might think you we in a echo chamber if it was a session. Then he'd take it WAY OUT THERE or the opposite.

It's 6:11 am here, before I go to NYC to teach @ New School University / Jazz to teach at 13 and 6th. It's sometimes very hard to not think of ...THE BRECKER...I knew VS THE MEDIA GOD that played with Carly and James and changed the world. He holds the record...for a lot. He WORKED HARD...everyone wanted to be him, and the only way to be him was to be a work-a-holic shed-a-holic love child. He never trashed anyone and that took a toll on him via his early daZE too.

I'll also say...he was a great flute player. He had a Louis Lott flute...and played great. He swore he could not play flute or soprano. Believe me- nobody had his ears.

He also holds the record in my home...LOL....for waking up my wife!! I had John Stubblefield, Ernie Watts, Slagle, Jeff Coffin...and a quite a few others here playing LATE in my home in my studio. Michael once was here after a jazz fest gig, saw a Balanced Action laying on a table with a Theo Link on it...and got postal and grabbed it and said can I play it- I said sure knowing my wife slept thru EVERYTHING. WELL- The house rocked...the cat was so knocked out she got a front row seat on the chair near him to check him, and next thing I see IS MY WIFE IN HER SWEATS AT 12:20 IN THE MORN..[rolleyes]..HAHAHA. She was cool. And told Mike don't worry it's ok- and we went downstairs. But he holds the record!!!! It was kinda funny. We used to laugh about that a lot.

His knowledge and his mind was like NO other...ever. The Slominsky book in his hands was another thing...I heard it. It was like Slominsky vamps. He used to say listen...and play Slominsky line maceo style!!!!! I'd be on the floor in his loft laughing at his humor....but to know the humor you'd have to know the Maceo record where he playS TENOR. Actually I used to dub that record for Liebs all the time too...that was the thang music.

OK- HTH,, I DO MISS THAT CAT AND CHARLIE BANACOS AND MARIANO DAILY.
 
#7 ·
... He used to say listen...and play Slominsky line maceo style!!!!! I'd be on the floor in his loft laughing at his humor....but to know the humor you'd have to know the Maceo record where he playS TENOR. Actually I used to dub that record for Liebs all the time too...that was the thang music.
Thanks for sharing your story of this extraordinary musician.
BTW, I was not aware that there is a recording of Maceo playing tenor? Is it available on one of his released albums that one might find in iTunes or similar?
 
#6 ·
Awesome story... that's the thing that always strikes me in interviews with him or in something like the NTSU video - how kind and humble the guy seemed to be. Very encouraging to others, always a kind word, and always saying how "I'm still working on that like you guys" or talking about what he was still trying to learn. When he would talk about Trane or Joe Henderson, or whoever he was always so reverent. So appreciative.

That's a huge lesson - there's always something new to learn, or different perspective. Forget all the technique stuff, just look at how Brecker's playing continued to evolve while he already playing at the highest level. He changed aspects of his sound, tone color, everything.

We all know his technique was super-human. God like. But, he was so VERY human. Seemed to be all about listening, practicing, hanging out with other guys...he just loved music and had so much to give. It's so obvious all of the hard work and dedication that went into his craft, and sensitivity and thoughtfulness. In a lot of ways, similar to those older players who had those same qualities and lived for the music.
 
#8 ·
We all know his technique was super-human. God like.
I wouldn't go quite that far, but one thing that occurs to me is that it was so easy for his phenominal dexterity to mask what a truly great player he was. But I would think that if his notebooks become available, interesting as it might be, it won't really help anyone.
 
#9 ·
Oddly enough, I've got one of them. My teacher--from 15 years ago let me check his out and I made a copy. God, it's been ten years since I even thought about these--looking at it now. Messian Scales, Yusef Lateef lines, Raggs, Sunset, Toomi scales, notes from teaching clinics, bass + sax etudes he did for Dave Holland...I'm going to have to go through all this stuff tonight! I also have a similar book that my teacher created, but it is all of his transcribed Brecker solos of the time...Pools, Islands, etc.
 
#10 ·
Many years ago I briefly studied with a wonderful bebop tenor player, who played with Duke Jordan in NYC, by the name of Ira Jackson. Ira grew up in Detroit and studied along with Charles McPherson, Lonnie Hillyard with Barry Harris. I met Charles at Ira's apartment one day as well as Walter Davis jr.

Anyway, Ira told me a quick story of a friend of his, I'm afraid the name escapes me, that while over Michael Brecker's residence the individual saw a notebook sitting on Michael's table. So the individual started thumbing through it and as Michael entered the room he saw the individual with the book and snatched it from him and Michael apparently was quite irate about it.

Maybe it was his diary? lol.....
 
#19 ·
Dan Brown is the popular author who wrote Da Vinci Code and other books in the same vain, mostly about Freemasons and the Holy Grail. See posts 3 & 4. I suppose it doesn't appear to be a joke if you aren't familiar with that book and film. Consider yourself not to be missing much.

EDIT: I have added a smiley to the post, so that it's less than serious nature may cause less confusion in the future, for which I apologise.
 
#21 ·
Dan Brown is the popular author who wrote Da Vinci Code and other books in the same vain, mostly about Freemasons and the Holy Grail. See posts 3 & 4. I suppose it doesn't appear to be a joke if you aren't familiar with that book and film. Consider yourself not to be missing much.
So your saying Brecker's lost notebooks are like the Davinci Code. Maybe there are hidden messages within it to enlightenment.
 
#23 ·
I don't know about hidden messages, but I've never heard of the Toomi Scale before. There's a couple pages of reharms for Nite + Day, pages of "nonsense" random alterations, several pages of Kenny Dorham, Lee MOrgan, and Cannonball licks in all 12 keys, some pandiatonic progressions (no idea what those are)..notes for intervallic studies like "A cluster which occurs between the 2nd and 3rd ton of an intervallic structure may negate the value of the interval formed by the 2 lowest tones--due to the exposure that the upper tone maintains."

WAY above my head.
 
#28 ·
@Tim Price, that story was incredibly cool... probably one of the coolest things I've ever read posted on the internet. Michael Brecker was a hero of mine starting when I was 15 years old. I started as a bass player, so I bought Jaco's Birthday Concert, listened to it, and said to my friends, "that has to be the best saxophonist in the world." Even 15-year-olds can be right sometimes, I guess. Ten years later, Snarky Puppy was in the studio recording our second record and my friend Clay Pritchard told me that Brecker had died the night before. I listened to the Birthday Concert in my car and cried like a wee girl.

Tim: please come visit Austin. Drinks are on me all night as long as you tell me more Brecker stories in person. Also, you should play a gig here.
 
#30 ·
@Tim Price, that story was incredibly cool... probably one of the coolest things I've ever read posted on the internet. Michael Brecker was a hero of mine starting when I was 15 years old. I started as a bass player, so I bought Jaco's Birthday Concert, listened to it, and said to my friends, "that has to be the best saxophonist in the world." Even 15-year-olds can be right sometimes, I guess. Ten years later, Snarky Puppy was in the studio recording our second record and my friend Clay Pritchard told me that Brecker had died the night before. I listened to the Birthday Concert in my car and cried like a wee girl.

Tim: please come visit Austin. Drinks are on me all night as long as you tell me more Brecker stories in person. Also, you should play a gig here.
I'D LOVE TO COME TO AUSTIN. :mrgreen:

Been thinking,
Michael shaped music in a way, from the saxophone side that was not JUST accessible but timely. The tell tale signs of a innovator are in everything he ever did. From a _sonic_side he knew how to get the sound on top of the mix and kick. But that was done from the concept in his mind faster than a mouthpiece till he had the throat thing. Those DREAMS records were 8x rubber Links. He later went to smaller stuff when Allard told him to chill out.

There were soprano things he did w/Steve Kahn, or maybe Don Grolnick that were other wordly and amazingly Brecker. He had this Yamaha, and a Guardala mouthpiece that Dave could never reproduce. It was a freak hand made thing, and played nice, kinda like a Brecker MK2 soprano but less baffle. Dave made me one but it was a disaster in the palm keys. But Mikes was the mouthpiece he used all the time. ONLY...and he had great ideas about not playing soprano at all. But that horn and piece were great. Some soprano tune on Herbies " New Standards" has that sound on it-with that combination. < LaVoz sop. reed > There was a odd tenor, floating around that killed too. It was Dennis Mourouse horn- seemed Dennis had some electric stuff done- maybe a pick up- or something. But Michael was into that electric stuff a lot- and Dennis Mourouse used to touch on that on the Larry Young stuff and others. Though I think, his distraction might of been his $$$$ gig was Stevie Wonder. Mourouse NOT Brecker.

In that time period...and here's the rub....there were WAY MORE sessions, WAY MORE gigs, WAY MORE interactions to get your craft together. So a guy like Michael really flew into it..because the SCENE was rich and full. Plus what he was doing...he completely heard! The WAY he played...and WHAT he played was him. NOT just notes, HIM.

Sure he knew the crazy harmony, and knew the permutations that Trane used on
" Satellite " inside out. NOW, reaching for that concept, the depth of understanding and inventiveness HAS to be there, otherwise it will be just button pushing at best.
I think Grossman said- he spent 3 years practicing Giant Steps/ Satellite, to get the flow and the concept. And that was Grossman!! During a period where it was cool to live, shed and deal the art form. Brecker I'm sure heard that inner thing fast and his time was ridiculously great....but he also lived on 19th street where he could play all day long/ bring Grossman over with Liebs and go nuts for days.

Nobody could complain. Who's gonna complain ? Dave Holland was on 19th then, and he had sessions with Braxton and various guys. Vinny Golia was there then - he drew the record cover for " Song Of Singing"...for Chick Corea. With Holland and Barry A. I was talking to one of my friends at New School today, the amazing pianist LeeAnn Ledgerwood, she was Bierachs wife, played with ALL the cats and plays her tail off. If you played " Softly As A Morning" in that era, you better be onto a 15 minute solo jones otherwise people would think you were lame. Let along a guy like Brecker could get going and he could blow the walls down for a half hour on that tune! ( If you guys ever can hear LeeAnn Ledgerwood dig her, she's amazing, she's on some Jeremy Steig stuff and her Trio CDs are the schizzle)

BUT BRECKER....He seemed to also know that pop funk thing. It as the era too.

In the Guardala period, he gave me a Whammy pedal for my bassoon. For my birthday. I still use that pedal. That was another Brecker side- he knew Electronics...like some kinda freaky thing. I joked with him about it and he said " I read the directions"...hahaha.

In all this talk, I'm home now. 1:14 am in Pa....I taught on 13 st in NYC at New School ( I bus to nyc ) I just walked up to 46th to teach at the studio at later after New School- and walked by 19th street. DAMN...Kinda wanted to. Made my mind really think. I walked from 13 up to 46 for exercise....And went past 19th and was glad I can remember that.

OH THE MACEO RECORD...

http://www.amazon.com/Doing-Their-T...=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1315632154&sr=1-1'

Maceo & All The King's Men "Maceo"


That Maceo record...I bet copied to cassette in the 70's more than I can count for
Liebman. Like I said, that was the THANG record.

Maceo played a lil different on tenor then too!

Michael loved the Eddie Harris book too, he loved the Viola books, he played along with records....and he asked everyone questions about everything. A refreshing human being and a asset to the human race. If anything this thread....sent me past 19th st....thanks.
 
#35 ·
Cool- but- let me"edit" them for typos and grammer ok. Sometimes I' ll post late at night, or early. And I'm more so after what the message is, as I'm sure you know. Time is flying and...all that.

THAT SAID LOUIS, Somewhere back in my Saxophone Journal days I did a cool article on Michael...where I just talked. I turned a tape player on, and we spoke about Bert Wilson and multi-phonics and stuff like that. The editor said he loved it and they got tons of letters about he relaxed way I did it. BUT- From my point you should try to find that...really. It was amazing.

Somewhere...I got a picture my wife took in the lobby of the " Tulip" hotel at North Sea ( 2002) with MichaeL and myself , Ike Turner and Don Alias. Ike was telling Michael about St Louis " in the day" and this amazing sax player ( Ask Sanborn!) named Oliver Sain. Sain was one of the real hardball players through the years and I heard his name and it started to register when Ike spoke about him as someone equal to Hank Crawford/ Junior Walker. ( JD Parran has the 45's and the guy is fantastic- Ike was right!! ) The conversation was really far out, earlir my wife told Michael Ike told her that I escaped from his band ha..In any case I thought hearing Ike speak to Michael, on the one, and just music was damn cool. Michael later said that he knows Sains name as Sanborn spoke of him, I heard Sains name as well when I did music calligraphy for a Julius Hemphill project and Julius got a " talker" on. ( FWIW- I dug Ike from all sides- Music,business and if you were straight with him, he was straight with you. This was Post-Tina )

Michael...should be a benchmark more than just to copy. But to realize that people play music...and all that humanistic stuff.
 
#34 ·
Fyi, I was only using the phrase "God like technique" to exaggerate my point about the fact that in addition to his natural talents he continually studied and worked his tail off practicing and working on his sound. Hard work and dedication pays off.

He didn't just get that great because he was MB. As much natural ability and musical instinct I think he had, he paid his dues and always kept his mind and ears open. He learned a lot from the older guys, saying as much in interviews talking about hanging with Lieb and Grossman, wearing out copies of Unity with Joe Henderson/Woody Shaw, and his deep appreciation for John Coltrane.

I recall him mentioning Sonny Rollins as well, and you know he knew his Bird, Cannonball, and Dexter. Recall him specifically talking about Cannonball at some point, certainly both were masters of articulation.
 
#36 ·
The thing that gets me about Mike Brecker is how good he was at everything. Okay so I've never heard him play classical music, but everything else. His pop solos were great, his funk solos were great - and not just the Brecker Bros style funk, but Parliament and others- and his jazz solos were great in every style as well. Bebop, blues, modal, complex chord changes, one chord grooves, etc. Everything smoked and was idiomatically correct.

I once got to hear the great Canadian producer Jack Richardson talk about his career. He spent a lot of time talking about the early '70's and how the Breckers along with Dave Sanborn were the horn section to get. He would fly them up to Canada whenever possible. And Jack also mentioned how nice and loyal they were. The Breckers and Sanborn were going through a meteoric rise to their careers and were charging around 3x union scale, but would work for Jack for whatever he had budget for because of their long history together.

Seems like everyone has very positive stories about Brecker, eh.

A local sax player tells the story of asking Mike for a lesson once when he was in town. Mike replied something like: "Why would you want to take a lesson from me when you have X-player in town?" As others have said, he was always humble.

Another favourite Brecker moment: There is a youtube clip of Brecker sitting in with the Mingus Big Band playing Pork Pie Hat. After Mike takes his usual killer solo, a very young looking Seamus Blake takes his solo (no pressure there, eh?). And Mike can be seen admiring Seamus' solo the way everyone admires Mike's solo.
 
#42 ·
I feel that if such a notebook were available it would help a student of music get an idea of where some of Brecker's more advanced techniques and harmonic devices came from even though I'm sure the end result of Brecker's conception is far removed from the source. Also, it's inspirational and motivating to witness a small part of the thought process and practice habits of any great artist. Speaking only for myself, such a personal insight into Michael Brecker's artistry would influence my practice and performance and that is worth something.

---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=36.076004,-115.309083
 
#43 ·
Apologies for derailing this thread a bit: Tim, thanks for the Brecker stories!

Has anyone ever extensively interviewed Liebman, Grossman and others about that '70s "Loft Scene"? I would think there's a pretty interesting book of material there. What little I've heard about it makes it sound like a very special, fertile period of time.
 
#45 ·
~ Glenn...Thank you. Michael was a unique soul, A guy who has storys about him as well I bet is studio man Lawrence Feldman. Lawrence is my man, I just got a nice note from him through a clerk at Roberto's. Lawrence loved and knew Michael well.
From a standpoint of equipment, Brecker was also a great alto player. At the time of the Guardala reed making, we'd do Sundays at the Macafferi plant outside the Bronx. I would bring my Selmer SBA with me and a bunch of LaVoz reeds to try to get close to. Michael would jones out and ask to try my horn, and sound amazing on it. Likewise, when I did try his set up- it was just for him, via his throat thing. There- Dave Guardala saved a career as quiet as it's kept. Guardala went the distance for him, and it was an asset. Brecker loved him, and there was a total simpatico. Mike's endorsement status was gold aside from years later when he used a Frank Wells re-faced Link that Boston tenor player Dino Giovoni loaned him for a over dub session. He always used the same piece it drove Guardala crazy- because Michael had this recording thing...I can't explain it. Sanborn I hear is the same. He told me once he had a dream he recorded on a Brillhardt metal Level air and sounded great ! I said are you serious? He was!!!

Tech aside, Michael had the situation and environs to do what was in his head as I said before. If he played, as you well know, a diminished scale, it had a thumbprint. It was the WAY he heard it because of the experience and know how of hours and time put into the ART.

~ I do think a Loft story book- or articles would be great. Something that centered on not just _one_guys view but the broad range of all the players. Guys like Bob Moses, Gary Pribeck ( There's a bari player Glenn- You GOT to hear him!! ) and Ion Muniz, Richard Sussman, Larry Schneider, Harvie S...plus more. But There were a lot of cats. I think also some guys via the "era" that got really lost in the scuffle. ALSO- Cool story about a sax player-who was with Chico Hamilton in that era, Marc Cohen. I met him in the lofts and heard of him thru Michael. He was great- he used electronics. Michael played me this record that Marc did with Aebercrombie called " Friends" and it was killin'. http://www.flickr.com/photos/84568447@N00/sets/72157603656735329
So- one day- Brecker tells me-hey check it, Marc split to Wash DC and is going to just play piano. No more sax. This was a shock because he was great sax player. At the time, I used to do Dave Berger's Big Band, as Mikes sub or at times on bari, and we'd hang after. SO- years later- he reappeared and was playing piano. Check it out!!!

There was a Brooklyn tenor player, friend of Steve Grossman, named Jeff Hittman. He played fantastic. Hard bopper. People forgot him. I bet if Brecker was alive he'd start talking about him right off!!!
Jeffs record is ;
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1450475

The other scenes..such as lofts that Bergonzi had, or lofts Sam Rives had, and also some of the dumps that were around that were store fronts. Guys like Tommy Turrentine and Clarence C sharpe would play those spots.....sometimes migrating to other lofts they found out about but..angain it was an " era". You could live cheaper, the city was a LOT more user friendly as far as rent, even subways. Find someone who knows who C sharp - or Tommy Turrentine was. THERE...is where cats need to go because Michael Brecker knew!!! He knew!!! He didn't just know the guys from his era...he knew the history- I am shocked when a guy is a tenor player-educator and talks about tenor playing and admits never hearing Jug or didn't get a chance to listen to Mobley yet!!! What BS. There's where the lesson should start...Brecker had that stuff down. Listen to the Odean Pope CD- he throws down so hard that you know the joint was jumping. That ain't licks or a " Breckerizm" it's a life long study. that's the deal. Michael knew Billy Root- and was writing LETTERS to him, and also loved his playing. He also was very big on guys like Mobley and Stitt and he loved Charles lloyd.

It's a deep thing....to think about him- makes me want to practice.
Yeh- that's it.
 
#44 ·
We ALL have our own notebooks. Michaels were filled with things he heard, ideas he got from other musicians, riffs and patterns that came from a short lifetime of listening, learning, and being.
I would have no interest in his books, and he would probably laugh to hear that others would. He never wanted anyone to sound like him, and he never sounded like anyone else.
He certainly would have preferred that we all just go on our own musical journeys, and get our own notebooks filled with things that make up and move US.

REMINDS ME ABOUT ONE TIME AT RAYBURN MUSIC, SONNY ROLLINS WAS IN AND AS HE WAS LEAVING, HE SAID HE HAD TO GO TAKE A LESSON. THE FEW PEOPLE THERE LOOKED PUZZLED AND SNICKERED A LITTLE BIT. HE EXPLAINED, THAT EVERYDAY HE TOOK A LESSON FROM COLEMAN HAWKINS. HE SAID HE WAS GOING INTO HIS LIMO TO LISTEN AND LEARN FROM THE MASTER.

I'm sure Michael wouldnt have minded us taking a couple of his ideas, but he'd want us to listen to the older guys from whom he learned.
 
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