Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as a performer and composer, received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in 2004,[3] and was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 2007.
For the Canadian political scientist, see Michael Brecher.
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker
March 29, 1949
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
January 13, 2007 (aged 57)
New York City, U.S
Musician, composer
1969–2006
Early life and education[edit]
Brecker was born in Philadelphia and raised in the local suburb of Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania. He was raised in a Jewish—and artistic—family: his father, Bob (Bobby), was a lawyer who played jazz piano and his mother, Sylvia, was a portrait artist.[4] Michael was exposed to jazz at an early age by his father. He began studying clarinet at age 6, then moved to the alto saxophone in the eighth grade, settling on the tenor saxophone as his primary instrument in his sophomore year of high school.
He graduated from Cheltenham High School in 1967 and spent that summer at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. In Fall 1967, he followed his older brother, Randy, to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he formed a jazz rock group with trumpet player Randy Sandke and others called Mrs. Seamon's Sound Band, named after a dormitory official who disliked longhaired students.[5]
Instruments[edit]
Early in his career, Brecker played a Selmer Super Balanced Action saxophone, later moving to a lacquer-finished Selmer Mark VI tenor saxophone[12] with silver-plated neck, fitted with a Dave Guardala MB1 mouthpiece and LaVoz medium reeds.[13][14] His earlier mouthpieces included a metal Otto Link 'New York' STM (during the mid-1970s) and a metal Dukoff in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Brecker also played the drums as he often talked about time, or rhythm, being musically the most important. He displayed his drum prowess during shows with his own ensembles or accompanying students during masterclasses.