Bill Milkowski - Ode to a Tenor Titan: The Life and Times and Music of Michael Brecker

T his book, a labor of love stretching out over two years, would not have been possible without the help of Randy Brecker; Susan Neustadt Brecker; Darryl Pitt; Jerry Wortman; Steve Khan; Chris Rogers; David Demsey, curator of the Michael Brecker Archives at William Paterson University; and Louis Gerrits, the worlds foremost authority on Michael Brecker.

Special thanks to Peter Erskine, Mike Mainieri, Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano, John Scofield, David Sanborn, Dave Holland, John Patitucci, Marc Copland, Gil Goldstein, Will Lee, Adam Nussbaum, Adam Rogers, Joey Calderazzo, Kate Greenfield, James Farber, Tim Ries, Jeff Tain Watts, Mike Stern, Randy Sandke, Edgar Grana, Vince Trombetta, and Bob Mintzer.

Sincere appreciation to Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Richie Beirach, Gene Perla, Lenny White, Branford Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Ravi Coltrane, Steve Gadd, Paul Simon, Antonio Sanchez, George Whitty, Jason Miles, James Genus, Scott Colley, Dennis Chambers, Dean Brown, Billy Cobham, Chris Parker, Barry Finnerty, Richie Morales, Gary Gold, Bruce Ditmas, Hal Galper, Jack Wilkins, Leni Stern, Christine Martin, Chris Minh Doky, Jay Anderson, Chris Potter, Bill Evans, Steve Slagle, Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Donny McCaslin, Harald Haerter, Franco Ambrosetti, Jacqui Perrine, Jason Olaine, Don Lucoff, Don Giller, Evan Haga, Lee Mergner, Michael Segell, Luke Dailey, Ssirus Pakzad, Bill Stewart, Larry Goldings, Dave Kikoski, Boris Kozlov, Jim Beard, Chris Brubeck, Armand Sabal-Lecco, Dave Fiuczynski, Andy Snitzer, Eli Degibri, Michael Zilber, Rick Margitza, Paul Heller, Melissa Aldana, Walt Weiskopf, Tony Lakatos, Troy Roberts, Ben Wendel, Bob Franceschini, Chase Baird, and Bob Reynolds.

Thanks also to Frank Alkyer of Downbeat, Mac Randall of Jazz Times, Michael Ricci of All About Jazz, Heather Phares for AllMusic, Bret Primack for Jazz Video Guy, Lorne Frohman for Distinguished Artists, Bill Sagan for Wolfgangs Vault, Brad Bellows at the Leigh Kamman Legacy Project, Jenna Molster at NPR, Vicky Mitchell at the BBC, Tori Donahue and Allen Bush at the Berklee College of Music, Victoria St. Martin of the University of Notre Dames Dome, Scott Steele for Mike Mahaffay Productions, Mary Rose Muccie of Temple University Press, Larry Dwyer for the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival, Susannah Cleveland of the University of North Texas, Jamie Krents at Verve Records, Andy Gotlieb of the Jewish Exponent, and Jane Muckle for James Taylor.

Thanks also to photographers Jimmy Katz, Suzanne Nyerges, John Paul Endress, David Arky, Lee Marshall, Judy Schiller, Steve Orlando, Stuart Nicholson, Luca dAgostino, Rick Laird, Jun Sato, Robert Hoffman, Vince Bucci, Peter Freed, Laura Friedman, Odasan Macovich, Hans Neleman, and John Abbott.

Gratitude as always to Lauren Zarambo for her support and encouragement during the two years of this book project; to my literary agent, Peter Rubie; to John Cerullo, Carol Flannery, Barbara Claire and Melissa McClellan at Rowman & Littlefield/Globe Pequot/Backbeat for their guidance along the way; and to my friend and confidant Jeff Levenson for his wise counsel and hospitality.

Grammy Award-winning alto saxophonist and charter member of The Brecker Brothers has recorded twenty-eight albums as a leader or coleader and appeared on recordings by Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, George Benson, Michael Franks, Bob James, Steve Khan, Jaco Pastorius, Randy Brecker, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and the Gil Evans Orchestra.

In terms of just pure technique and musicality, there was nobody who could touch Mike. He had so much more technical ability than any other saxophone player Ive ever known or even heard about in my life. To me, the only guy that even comes close today is Chris Potter. And I think Chris would be the first to admit that in terms of absolute control of the instrument, there was nobody better than Mike. He was so good he would do stuff on the instrument that was literally just impossible. He would do these multiphonics, moving through it at 32nd and 64th note speed, and do it with such an ease that you werent even sure what exactly just happened. I mean, it was stunning, just jaw-droppingly great. And I dont think you could find a musician on Earth that would disagree with that.

The world is diminished by his absence. But his legacy is so powerful and so strong and the vitality and the immediacy of his music lives on. Whatever his personal journey and his personal demons were, he transcended them, as far as Im concerned. Mikes life, to me, was about art and love.

Saxophonist-composer-educator played on more than five hundred recordings, including two hundred as a leader. The 2010 NEA Jazz Master worked with Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, John Scofield, John McLaughlin, and Pat Metheny and in 2003 formed the Saxophone Summit with Joe Lovano and Mike Brecker.

Mike was a saxophone scientist. That was his instrument, and he was going to learn as much as possible about it. And it was a very dedicated search with him. Michael played perfectly. When you hear guys who dont play perfectly-maybe they didnt put in the amount of finger practice that Mike did on his instrumentits obvious. A lot of the avant-garde cats didnt take care of cleaning up their act; maybe thats the charm. Theres certainly a charm about the rawness of a Dewey Redman, who had that crying kind of sound and used it effectively. And when you put Michael next to Deweysomething that is so polished and something that is so rawthe difference is obvious. But guys like Mike and Sonny, Trane, Joe Henderson... this is like supreme technique that is beyond ridiculous. Theres no holes there. Its completely in tune, its even, its perfect.

Virtuosic technique aside, Michael was the sweetest fucking guy around. He was polite, he was beautiful, he was soft spoken, he was a gentleman. He cared. He took care of people and helped them get out of the alcohol and drug thing after he had gotten out of it himself. Michael is a case of somebody who recovered and became a positive force for those who were in the same situation. As a human being, he was a beautiful cat and he was a serious cat. He knew the secret; he knew the story.

Tenor saxophonist-composer has twenty-two recordings as a leader or coleader and has toured and recorded with Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Dave Brubeck, Roy Haynes, Quincy Jones, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson, Joe Lovano, Brad Mehldau, Roy Hargrove, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Paul Motian, the Bad Plus, and his father, Dewey Redman. He played alongside Michael in 1997 at a John Coltrane tribute in Japan.

I remember once playing a gig in Tarrytown, New York, and, somehow, I got word that Mike was coming to my gig. And sure enough, when we walked out on stage I looked out into the audience, and there was Michael Brecker with his wife, Susan, sitting front row center. And I remember thinking, Okay, this is not cool! Im fucking scared! And I was making it through the set OK, but there was a point where I was playing a cadenza on a ballad, and I couldnt stop thinking of the cadenza Mike had played on Funky Sea, Funky Dew from Heavy Metal Be-Bop (Arista, 1978). That was such a formative moment for me the first time I heard him play that. It was 1985, I was at a high school party, probably stoned, and someone put that on. Mike is soloing, and suddenly the band stops, and he takes this outrageous cadenza in the middle of the tune, and Im like, What is THIS?! And from that point, I made myself aware of everything that Mike did. There was that Steps Ahead record where they did Pools [Steps Ahead, Elektra/Musician, 1983]. There was the Chick Corea record, Three Quartets [Warner Bros., 1981]. There was Pat Methenys