Brecker Brothers

The Brecker Brothers at the North Sea Jazz Festival 1992. Left to right: Randy Brecker (trumpet), Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone) and Mike Stern (guitar)

Brecker Brothers (also The Brecker Brothers or Brecker Bros. ) was a fusion band led by the brothers Michael Brecker ( saxophone , flute , later also EWI ) and Randy Brecker ( trumpet , flugelhorn ) and since 1975 in the 1970s and early 1980s Years of commercially successful merger . They had a hit with East River in 1979, which peaked at number 34 on the UK Singles Chart. For her album Out of the Loop she was awarded a Grammy in 1995.

history

The older brother Randy became known as a founding member of the group Blood, Sweat & Tears . He played on her debut album Child Is Father to the Man in 1968. The younger brother Michael came to New York in 1970, where he and his brother joined the jazz rock band Dreams . In the following years the two brothers established themselves as a sought-after wind section for numerous studio productions in the field of rock and pop music due to their precise riffs . In 1974 Art Blakey brought both of them to his Jazz Messengers before they went independent in 1975 and released a “convincing record debut” with The Brecker Brothers . In the second half of the 1970s they were “one of the most successful funk jazz groups.” In 1992 the album The Return of the Brecker Brothers ushered in a short-term reunion.

In addition to recording their own compositions, the brothers often played together on albums and recordings by other artists, such as Todd Rundgren 's hit Hello It's Me , the Parliament album Mothership Connection and the debut album by the Japanese fusion band Casiopea . The brothers also toured with Frank Zappa in the late 1970s and appeared on his album Zappa in New York . Their collaboration ended in 2007 with the death of Michael Brecker, who died of leukemia .

Discography

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

Sneakin 'Up Behind You   US 58 06/07/1975 (9 weeks) East River   UK 34 04/11/1978 (5 weeks)

• The Brecker Brothers (Arista 1975), with Dave Sanborn , Harvey Mason , Will Lee , Bob Mann, Don Grolnick
• Back to Back (Arista 1976), with Dave Sanborn, Luther Vandross , Lew Del Gatto , Steve Gadd , Steve Khan , Dave Friedman , Don Grolnick, Sammy Figueroa
• Don't Stop the Music (Arista 1977), with Lew Del Gatto, Lenny White , Steve Gadd, Hiram Bullock , Don Grolnick
• Heavy Metal Be-Bop (Arista 1978), with Terry Bozzio , Barry Finnerty , Sammy Figueroa
• Detente (Arista 1980), with Marcus Miller , George Duke , Paulinho da Costa , Steve Gadd, Hiram Bullock
• Straphangin (Arista 1981), with Marcus Miller, Barry Finnerty, Don Alias
• Return of the Brecker Brothers (GRP 1992), with James Genus , Dennis Chambers , Mike Stern , Robbie Kilgore , Don Alias ​​(DE: Gold im Jazz-Award)
• Out of the Loop (GRP 1994)
• Some Skunk Funk (BHM 2005)
• Live & Unreleased (Leopard / Delta Music Media, rec. 1980 ed. 2020), with Barry Finnerty, Mark Gray, Neil Jason, Richie Morales

Individual evidence

1. ^ US & UK hits charts, East River By The Brecker Brothers. Retrieved January 25, 2013 . 
2. ↑ Brecker Brothers discography at vervemusicgroup.com. Retrieved January 26, 2013 . 
3. ↑ Blood, Sweat & Tears at Discogs.com. Retrieved January 24, 2013 . 
4. ↑ Wolf Kampmann (ed.), With the assistance of Ekkehard Jost : Reclams Jazzlexikon . Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-010528-5 , p. 69.
5. ↑ Chart sources: UK US
6. ↑ Gold / platinum database of the Federal Music Industry Association, accessed on July 3, 2016

Web links

• Brecker Brothers at Allmusic (English)
• Extended Analysis - The Brecker Brothers: The Brecker Bros. - The Complete Arista Albums Collection at allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved January 24, 2013 .