Randy Brecker
| Randy Brecker | |
|---|---|
 Randy Brecker, Munich July 2001 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Randal Edward Brecker |
| Also known as | Randy Brecker |
| Born | November 27, 1945 Cheltenham, Pennsylvania |
| Origin |  |
| Genres | Jazz, Fusion, Funk, R&B, Rock |
| Instruments | Trumpet and Flugelhorn |
| 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 | http://www.randybrecker.com/ |
Randal "Randy" Brecker (b. Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and 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.
Contents |
[edit] 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. He is part of the GRP All-Star Big Band.
[edit] Discography
[edit] As leader
- Score (1969) Blue Note
- 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
- 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 Jazz
- 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
[edit] As sideman
With Arkadia Jazz All Stars
- Thank You, Joe!
With Aerosmith
- Get Your Wings - (1974)
With Gato Barbieri
- Chapter Three: Viva Emiliano Zapata (Impulse!, 1974)
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 Hubert Laws
- The Chicago Theme (CTI, 1974)
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 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)
