Randy Brecker

Randy Brecker
Randy Brecker, Munich, July 2001
Background information
Birth name	Randal Edward Brecker
Born	(1945-11-27) November 27, 1945 Cheltenham, Pennsylvania United States
Genres	Jazz, fusion, funk, R&B, rock
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Trumpet, flugelhorn
Labels	Blue Note, Arista, GNP Crescendo Record Co., MCA, GRP, Naxos, Telarc, MAMA, Denon
Associated acts	Brecker Brothers, Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Horace Silver, Frank Zappa, Parliament-Funkadelic, Gary Husband's Force Majeure, Chris Parker, Jaco Pastorius, Dire Straits
Website	www.randybrecker.com

Randal "Randy" Brecker (b. Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. His versatility in musical tastes have made him a sought-after player, equally accomplished in playing jazz, rock, and R&B. He has also worked as a studio player for many famous musicians. He 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.

Career

He played on the first Blood Sweat & Tears album, Child Is Father to the Man, 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, as she plays many of his signature licks. He is part of the GRP All-Star Big Band.

Discography

As leader

• Score (1969) Solid State
• 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
• Detente – 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 Record Co.
• Toe to Toe (1990) MCA
• Return of the Brecker Brothers – The Brecker Brothers (1992) GRP
• Out of the Loop – The Brecker Brothers (1994) GRP
• Into the Sun (1995) Concord Jazz
• Katewalk – Lew Del Gatto (1997) Naxos
• 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 Brasil (2008) Summit Records/MAMA Records

As sideman

With Arkadia Jazz All Stars

• Thank You, Joe!

With Aerosmith

• Get Your Wings – (1974)

With Patti Austin

• End of a Rainbow (CTI, 1976)

With Idris Muhammad

• Could Heaven Ever Be Like This (Kudu, 1977)
• Camby Bolongo (Kudu, 1977)

With Gato Barbieri

• Chapter Three: Viva Emiliano Zapata (Impulse!, 1974)

With George Benson

• Good King Bad (CTI, 1975)

With Carla Bley

• Night-Glo (Watt)

With Blood Sweat & Tears

• Child Is Father to the Man – (1968) Columbia

With Ron Carter

• Anything Goes (Kudu, 1975)

With Mark Dimond & Frankie Dante

• Beethoven's V (Cotique, 1975)

With Hubert Laws

• The Chicago Theme (CTI, 1974)

With Yusef Lateef

• In a Temple Garden (CTI, 1979)

With Brother Jack McDuff

• Who Knows What Tomorrow's Gonna Bring? – (1970) Blue Note

With Alphonse Mouzon

• Funky Snakefoot – (1973) Blue Note

With Jaco Pastorius

• Jaco Pastorius – (1976)
• Invitation – (1983)

With Duke Pearson

• Introducing Duke Pearson's Big Band – (1967) Blue Note
• Now Hear This – (1968) Blue Note

With Lou Reed

• Berlin – (1973) RCA

With Todd Rundgren

• Something/Anything? (1972) Bearsville
• A Wizard, a True Star (1973) Bearsville
• Todd (1973) Bearsville

With Don Sebesky

• Giant Box (CTI, 1973)
• The Rape of El Morro (CTI, 1975)

With Horace Silver

• In Pursuit of the 27th Man – (1972) Blue Note
• A Prescription for the Blues – (1997) Impulse!

With Miroslav Vitous

• Universal Syncopations II (1995) ECM

With g.org

• A New Kind of Blue – (2004)

See also

• Brecker Brothers

Further reading

• Davison, Michael Allyn (1987). A motivic study of twenty improvised solos of Randy Brecker between the years of 1970–1980. University of Wisconsin—Madison. Retrieved July 11, 2012. 

External links

• www.randybrecker.com
• Randy Brecker at MySpace
• Randy Brecker interview by Mike Brannon
• Interview with Randy Brecker (audio)
• Randy Brecker's recording of 'Ballad of John Henry' for Pioneers for a Cure