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View Full Version : Brecker on Alto?

Andrew
03-12-2003, 02:39 AM
Has anyone seen/heard him on an alto sax before? I'd be interested in hearing what he'd sound like on alto...or even bari!
shimshon
03-12-2003, 12:36 PM
I may be mistaken, but I think that he played alto on the Blood Sweat and Tears album "Child is Father to Man"(late 60's).
Giles
03-12-2003, 06:07 PM
I'll have to check, but I don't think Michael Brecker played on that. I know for a fact that Randy Brecker was one of the trumpet players on the first BST album, but he left after that one record. Fred Lispius (spelling?) played alto for BST through the first four or five albums.
ted
03-12-2003, 11:18 PM
Mike has always played tenor, only tenor. He was not on that BS&T album but his brother was on trumpet.
max
03-13-2003, 12:06 AM
He did play soprano on at least one Steps Ahead record...
Gregg W. Jackson
03-13-2003, 12:54 AM
Michael Brecker has played soprano, alto, flute, and EWI on various albums The All Music Guide lists 23 appearances on soprano sax, 7 on alto sax, 21 on flute, and 22 on EWI. See http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=7:34:12|PM&sql=R6170#APPEAR for documentation.
Andrew
03-17-2003, 01:20 AM
The BST sax player was Fred Lispius. Thanks for the link on where to see what he played on each album. I am gonna go check some of them out now.
Jody Espina
03-17-2003, 02:33 AM
I was at Michael Brecker's house last month when he was trying out my JodyJazz ESP tenor mpc. He liked it very much and I asked him if he would try my ESP alto prototype. He didn't have an alto there or any reeds but he agreed to play it on my alto with my reed.

It was one of the most amazing things that I've ever heard. He played for about 10 or 15 minutes and he was becoming more and more at home with the alto until he was playing stuff that I've never heard on alto. He loved the ESP on alto and tenor. He allowed me to record him on mini disc so that I could hear how the mpc's sounded. The recordings blow me away. I didn't ask permission to make them public but some day I'll ask him if it's okay to let people hear them.
JJ
03-17-2003, 01:11 PM
Check out Herbie Hancock "The new Standard" from 1996. Brecker plays soprano on some of the tunes. A nice record.
Andrew
03-17-2003, 07:02 PM
I've got that cd, and he sounds so nice on that soprano. I really want to hear him on alto though. I hope he'd let you make those recordings public :)
Vader
07-07-2003, 08:43 PM
He played alto with Chaka Khan(I hope I spelled her name correctly). I forget what solo it was, but it was absolutely ripping.
Mike Ruhl
07-09-2003, 07:12 PM
Gregg's link didn't work for me. Let's try this one:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=7:34:12&sql=R6170#APPEAR
Just Say Sax
07-15-2003, 04:07 AM
Jody, thank you for sharing that. I can only imagine what that must have been like. A near-Heaven experience, I suppose.
wersax
08-05-2003, 04:20 AM
I think Michael plays an alto cadenza on "Have a Good Time", from the lp "Still Crazy(After All These Years)" by Paul Simon. I haven't heard the song in a long while, but I remember it being an alto solo with lots of beebop in it.........
Dirty Dave
08-05-2003, 03:43 PM
That's Phil Woods...
Vader
08-05-2003, 06:04 PM
Doh!
wersax
08-06-2003, 04:16 AM
Sounds right! I never heard Brecker play like that, all those Bird licks...... :lol:
Vader
08-06-2003, 05:37 PM
I've actually never heard the tune in which you're talking about. I've only heard the tune with Brecker on it. I bet the Phil is ripping. He sounds great now, but he was truly killing back then.
wersax
08-06-2003, 05:46 PM
Yeah Phil was! He also did a solo on a Steely Dan tune, around the same time, called "Dr Wu" (off of "Katy Lied") which is smoking..........
ving
08-07-2003, 04:06 PM
When I was in college, Brecker was a guest artist at a jazz festival we participated in, and my roomate asked him directly if there were any recordings he could get a hold of with Brecker on alto. He replied, "Nothing thats worth listening to!".
wersax
08-07-2003, 05:27 PM
:lol: The most I ever heard from Brecker on the alto was on a tape of a Carly Simon concert I got my wife a few years back; 'couldn't even tell you what songs or how many, but I noticed he did his more "commercial sounding" solos on the alto. Maybe he got that from all the studio work he's done. It seems like he developed his voice on the tenor years ago, so that's his strong horn......[/b]
Vader
08-07-2003, 07:00 PM
When I was in college, Brecker was a guest artist at a jazz festival we participated in, and my roomate asked him directly if there were any recordings he could get a hold of with Brecker on alto. He replied, "Nothing thats worth listening to!".

Yeah, Mike is one of the most down to earth people in the industry.
World class as a player, and a person.
uksaxman
06-20-2008, 03:59 PM
Wow would this be great to hear!
UKsaxman



I was at Michael Brecker's house last month when he was trying out my JodyJazz ESP tenor mpc. He liked it very much and I asked him if he would try my ESP alto prototype. He didn't have an alto there or any reeds but he agreed to play it on my alto with my reed.

It was one of the most amazing things that I've ever heard. He played for about 10 or 15 minutes and he was becoming more and more at home with the alto until he was playing stuff that I've never heard on alto. He loved the ESP on alto and tenor. He allowed me to record him on mini disc so that I could hear how the mpc's sounded. The recordings blow me away. I didn't ask permission to make them public but some day I'll ask him if it's okay to let people hear them.
whaler
06-21-2008, 02:13 PM
Another tenor player that sounds great, and has recorded on alto, is Bill Evans.
http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Insider-Bill-Evans/dp/B00005KJS7