Randy Brecker

Blessed with an assertive timbre and improvisational fluency shaped by hard bop, trumpeter Randy Brecker has carved a singular path as both a jazz giant and a versatile sideman whose long career includes fronting the hugely popular crossover fusion group the Brecker Brothers with his sibling, saxophonist Michael Brecker. Emerging in the late 1960s through stints with Horace Silver and Art Blakey, he rapidly became a sought-after studio musician, frequently collaborating with his brother and contributing to a vast array of sessions spanning multiple styles on recordings by James Brown, Todd Rundgren, Lou Reed, Aerosmith, George Benson, and numerous others, alongside additional jazz projects with Hal Galper, Larry Coryell, Billy Cobham, and further artists. Launching the funk-oriented Brecker Brothers in the mid-1970s propelled him into the upper ranks of the era’s crossover figures, highlighted by the success of “Some Skunk Funk” from the 1975 album The Brecker Bros. and a string of Grammy nominations throughout the band’s first six years. Though strongly identified with fusion, several of his own releases, such as 1968’s Score and 1987’s In the Idiom, have underscored his commitment to vigorous post-bop traditions, while his ongoing genre-spanning approach is evident on projects like the electronically flavored 2003 release 34th N Lex, the 2008 Grammy-winning Randy in Brasil, and 2013’s The Brecker Brothers Band Reunion.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1945, Brecker was raised in a musical household with his younger brother, saxophonist Michael. His father, an attorney and part-time jazz pianist, first exposed him to the music through key concerts featuring Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and Thelonious Monk. Already a skilled improviser by his teenage years, he refined his abilities during summers at stage-band camps and performed locally with R&B and funk ensembles, all while absorbing influences from recordings by Lee Morgan, Sonny Rollins, Clifford Brown, Art Blakey, and Horace Silver. After high school he earned an undergraduate music degree at Indiana University, working with instructors Bill Adam, David Baker, and Jerry Coker, then relocated to New York City where he quickly secured engagements with several large ensembles, among them Clark Terry’s big band, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, and the Duke Pearson Big Band, making his recording debut on the latter’s 1967 album Introducing Duke Pearson’s Big Band.

Also in 1967 he joined the innovative R&B collective Blood, Sweat & Tears, though he soon left to become a member of Horace Silver’s quintet. His first album as a leader, Score, appeared in 1968 and included his brother on saxophone along with pianist Hal Galper, guitarist Larry Coryell, bassist Eddie Gomez, and drummer Mickey Roker. He rejoined Silver the following year for You Gotta Take a Little Love and also recorded early on with Moby Grape, the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, Gary McFarland, and others before departing Silver to enter Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers.

In 1970 he co-established the groundbreaking fusion ensemble Dreams with his brother, Barry Rogers, Billy Cobham, and John Abercrombie; the group toured and issued two influential recordings, Dreams in 1970 and Imagine My Surprise in 1972, after which he performed with Larry Coryell’s expansive fusion project Eleventh House. The increasingly busy Brecker siblings then returned to Silver for the 1972 album In Pursuit of the 27th Man and cut several post-bop dates with Hal Galper, including The Guerilla Band and Wild Bird, while also contributing to sessions such as James Taylor’s One Man Dog, Todd Rundgren’s Something/Anything?, Grover Washington, Jr.’s Soul Box, and additional projects.

Mid-decade saw Randy and Michael launch their own fusion endeavor, the Brecker Brothers, which merged pop and jazz elements through refined improvisation and an eclectic affinity for funk, post-bop, and rock. Their debut, 1975’s The Brecker Bros., introduced the signature track “Some Skunk Funk.” Over the ensuing six years the band skillfully navigated commercial and creative goals, earning seven Grammy nominations and releasing several Arista albums—Back to Back in 1976, Don’t Stop the Music in 1977, and Heavy Metal Be-Bop in 1978, the last featuring the U.K. hit single “East River”—while sharing stages with an evolving roster of players that included David Sanborn, Mike Stern, Will Lee, Steve Khan, Hiram Bullock, and Marcus Miller, among others. After 1981’s Straphangin’ the Brecker Brothers entered an indefinite hiatus.

Thereafter Randy maintained a busy schedule of session work, appearing on recordings by Jaco Pastorius, Charles Mingus, Donald Fagen, Spyro Gyra, Phoebe Snow, George Benson, and Frank Sinatra, to cite only a handful. He resumed solo activity with the straight-ahead 1987 album In the Idiom, joined by saxophonist Joe Henderson, pianist David Kikoski, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Al Foster; the similarly intense acoustic Live at Sweet Basil followed in 1988, documenting a concert lineup with saxophonist Bob Berg, pianist David Kikoski, bassist Dieter Ilg, and drummer Joey Baron. Both sets reaffirmed his ongoing focus on composing and performing demanding post-bop jazz. Throughout the 1980s he frequently collaborated with his then-wife, Brazilian-born pianist/vocalist Eliane Elias, on 1986’s Amanda and 1988’s So Far So Close before their divorce in the early 1990s.

Returning to electric settings in 1990, he issued the contemporary-oriented Toe to Toe, which reunited him with brother Michael; two years later the siblings formalized the reunion with The Return of the Brecker Brothers on GRP. Issued a decade after the group’s previous album, it achieved notable success and garnered three Grammy nominations. The follow-up, 1994’s Out of the Loop, included a guest appearance by trumpeter Chris Botti and proved even more successful, securing two Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance and Best Instrumental Composition. Brecker earned his first solo Grammy for the 1997 Brazilian-tinged album Into the Sun, then explored a different direction by introducing his alter ego “Randroid” on the electronic-leaning Hanging in the City.

The 2000s brought further accomplishments, including a second solo Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album with 2003’s 34th N Lex, which featured brother Michael alongside David Sanborn, baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber, and trombonist Fred Wesley. He undertook well-received tours with his quintet and the Bill Evans & Randy Brecker Soulbop Band, headlined with the Brecker Brothers at Japan’s Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival in 2003, and joined the WDR Big Band for Some Skunk Funk, which received the Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble following its release. During this period Michael Brecker received a diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a blood-marrow cancer; despite an extensive search for a bone-marrow donor, the saxophonist died on January 13, 2007.

In the aftermath of his brother’s passing, Randy revisited his affinity for Brazilian music with 2008’s Randy in Brasil. Recorded in São Paulo under the production of Ruriá Duprat and featuring Brazilian musicians such as Robertinho Silva, Paulo Calazans, and Edú Ribeiro, among others, it earned the Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. While seeking a bone-marrow donor for Michael, Polish pianist/composer Włodek Pawlik learned that the brothers, whose mother’s maiden name is Tecosky, traced ancestry to Poland’s Tykocin region; this discovery led to their 2009 collaboration Tykocin Jazz Suite, which also involved the Bialystok Philharmonic. Two years later he collected four additional Grammy nominations for The Jazz Ballad Song Book, recorded with the Danish Radio Big Band and the Danish National Chamber Orchestra.

In 2011 the trumpeter reassembled a new edition of the Brecker Brothers for touring, releasing The Brecker Brothers Band Reunion in 2013 with veteran members guitarist Mike Stern, drummer Dave Weckl, and keyboardist George Whitty, plus new participants including Italian saxophonist (and Brecker’s wife) Ada Rovatti and keyboardist Oli Rockberger. Also in 2013 he reunited with Pawlik for Plays Wlodek Pawlik’s Night in Calisia. The live album Randypop!, featuring pianist Kenny Werner, his daughter vocalist Amanda Brecker, bassist John Patitucci, and others, appeared in 2015. Additional sessions during these years involved Mike Stern, Eliane Elias, Eric Clapton, Mingus Dynasty, and further artists. In 2018 he collaborated with Mats Holmquist and the UMO Jazz Orchestra on Together. Brecker captured his seventh Grammy in 2020, awarded for best improvised jazz solo on the track “Sozinho” from the 2019 album Rocks.