Brecker Brothers

uh what is what are you going to talk about today steve well

we're going to listen to a tune by sax man michael brekker one half of the brekker brothers along with his trumpet playing brother randy this tune is called song for bilbao from his well-received 1996 album tales from the hudson as in river because michael brekker is a new york guy Now, Michael did a lot of fusion stuff, played on some yacht rock records, did one of his own with the Brecker Brothers' vocal number, Not Tonight, from their 1980 album, Detente.

But as a leader on his own, he did a lot more straight-ahead jazz.

And this here was one of his best-received solo albums.

You know, he's like an incredible jazz musician.

And I just grew up with him, you know, listening to, you know, I don't know, Brecker Brothers, all sorts of like kind of weird music.

weird fusion and stuff i suppose but this is like really early this is like early teens and then i was playing in bands playing bass and singing playing like boys are back in town and above pubs and it was a good reason to drink and you know i mean and like it was yeah so it was really looking back at it a really healthy little safe little music scene you know and we all started lots of little different bands that obviously never really really went anywhere The next step on from that really was, you know, I was going to go to music college in Manchester, but my dad sort of talked me out of that and said, you don't really want to be a classical musician, I don't think.

You want to go and get in a band.

Sure.

I remember Terry and Patrick O'Hearn were just returning from a tour playing jazz with the Brecker Brothers.

So they were seasoned professionals, you know.

I was just a guy from Nashville who was playing in cover bands.

I got into this through the 80s and 90s fusion stuff, for sure.

Mike Stern, Michael Brecker, Brecker Brothers, Dreams, a little bit earlier stuff like Mahavishnu, of course, Pat Metheny.

And...

some random stuff sprinkled in i mean joe lovano is not random at all but it was random in the context of you know some of the more fusiony stuff i was listening to it took like the the harsher fusiony edge of what i was listening to i listened to people like like joe lovano but then i kind of dug back into the music um you know i was about to say all the way back but this is not by any means all the way back but definitely earlier you know like art pepper meets the rhythm section finding out that half the lines I was transcribing from Mike Stern, recorded in the 80s and 90s, originated with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Mingus, that repertoire and that vocabulary came long before those guys turned it into jazz fusion.

Richie's career has taken him through an extraordinary range of music.

He's played and recorded with the Brecker Brothers, spent six years with Spyro Gyra, toured with Grover Washington Jr., and worked with artists including Mike Stern, Al DiMeola, Ray Barreto, Bill Evans, and many others.

I first heard Richie on Spira Gyra's Fast Forward when I was 14 years old, and his playing made an immediate impression on me.

What struck me then, and still does, is the feel.

No matter how complex the music gets, there's always a groove underneath it.

We talk about that today, along with the Brecker Brothers, Spira Gyra, Grover Washington Jr., learning from great percussionists, preparation, music education, and the kind of experience you can only get by playing with musicians who are better than you.

This one means a lot to me, and I hope you enjoy it.

Here's my conversation with Richie Morales.

big at those days.

And Dreams had Will Lee in it, and the Brecker Brothers were in it.

It sold like crazy.

It was a big record for them.

yeah yeah

I'd forgotten until I looked at the credits again, but that not only had the Horny Horns, but also the Brecker Brothers in the credits for that record.

And Razor was not there yet, I guess.

Was that Bernie on them keys? Yeah.

He had the Army behind him, no doubt about that.

Brecker Brothers, wow, that's deep.

All right.

Well, let's go on to round two.

Oh, Michael Brecker.

I've been listening to his music so long since high school, you know, with the Brecker Brothers, of course.

Yes.

There's one thing that comes to mind when I think about Michael Berger.

He has his own style.

Yes, definitely.

And then, like you said, the Brecker brothers, whoo! One of the top five shows I've ever seen was the Brecker Brothers in Japan.

Oh, yeah.

And then Eric does some really heavy things.

We did Your Gut to Give, which is the old Brecker Brothers tune.

You know, it's a roasting thing and there's loads of little hits and stuff like that.

Yeah, really fun.