I don't know how I've remained unaware of this man's work until now. Bret Primack has been writing about jazz and jazz musicians for many years. In 1995 he co-founded the now-defunct mega-site Jazz Central Station and is now doing marketing videos for jazz greats Joe Lovano and Sonny Rollins through his company Planet Bret. As a midwesterner, the name Bret normally brings to mind another stellar individual, but we'll put Mr. Favre's career on the sideline for the moment.
If you love jazz as I do, you must visit Mr. Primack's page at YouTube. He has assembled a huge and varied collection of classic jazz performances on his JazzVideoLand channel. Many of them are his uploads but there are also recommendations of videos from other users. Make sure you have some time to spend before you click over there because I guarantee you will be ensnared by the great stuff you find.
Here's a wonderful tribute to Michael Brecker that Bret Primack created:
Showing posts with label Michael Brecker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Brecker. Show all posts
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Monday, July 9, 2007
Now Spinning: Brecker and Patitucci
Michael Brecker: Pilgrimage
John Patitucci: Line By Line
These two recent recordings are the finest work to date from both of these giants of contemporary jazz. Pilgrimage is, unfortunately, Michael Brecker's final piece of work, as the jazz world lost him to cancer at far too young an age just a few months ago. Brecker's writing on this CD is straight ahead, intensely focused jazz. The rhythmic language of his earlier work is evident and is even more developed here than ever before. He has surrounded himself by some of the heaviest improvisers on the planet: Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, John Patitucci and Jack DeJohnette. They all sound pretty fired up by the opportunity to perform with Brecker here; his cancer was in remission when the sessions took place and the musicians sound like they are seizing the chance to make this music with this man while they can. To my ears, Brecker is on fire and DeJohnette is tracking him every step of the way. Hancock is also outstanding (when isn't he?) in this setting.
Patitucci's most recent CD, Line By Line, represents a huge step forward for him as a composer. As with Pilgrimage, the tunes sound very focused stylistically and the bassist puts himself in some very interesting conditions for improvising (like his piece for strings and electric bass). His playing is as ferociously personal as always, as is the work of guitarist Adam Rogers and drummer Brian Blade.
I haven't heard two CDs I can recommend more than these two so far this year.
John Patitucci: Line By Line
These two recent recordings are the finest work to date from both of these giants of contemporary jazz. Pilgrimage is, unfortunately, Michael Brecker's final piece of work, as the jazz world lost him to cancer at far too young an age just a few months ago. Brecker's writing on this CD is straight ahead, intensely focused jazz. The rhythmic language of his earlier work is evident and is even more developed here than ever before. He has surrounded himself by some of the heaviest improvisers on the planet: Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, John Patitucci and Jack DeJohnette. They all sound pretty fired up by the opportunity to perform with Brecker here; his cancer was in remission when the sessions took place and the musicians sound like they are seizing the chance to make this music with this man while they can. To my ears, Brecker is on fire and DeJohnette is tracking him every step of the way. Hancock is also outstanding (when isn't he?) in this setting.
Patitucci's most recent CD, Line By Line, represents a huge step forward for him as a composer. As with Pilgrimage, the tunes sound very focused stylistically and the bassist puts himself in some very interesting conditions for improvising (like his piece for strings and electric bass). His playing is as ferociously personal as always, as is the work of guitarist Adam Rogers and drummer Brian Blade.
I haven't heard two CDs I can recommend more than these two so far this year.
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