artist info

Winner of 15 Grammy Awards, Michael Brecker’s unique voice and approach to the tenor saxophone influenced every saxophonist playing jazz today. The jazz world lost him in 2007 at the age of 57.

In honor of Michael Brecker, Charged Particles recorded a live CD of his music which was included on “Best Of” lists in JazzTimes magazine, Jazzwise magazine, All About Jazz, The Mercury News, Glide Magazine, the Jazz Journalists Association Poll, and the Jazz Critics Poll.

Michael Brecker’s biographer, Bill Mikowski, said that the performance is “staggering in its authenticity.” And Downbeat magazine said they play “exciting, satisfying stuff.”

The band’s sold-out performances at the landmark jazz clubs Ronnie Scott’s in London and Birdland in New York inspired unrelenting standing ovations.

Don’t miss this exciting evening of virtuoso playing and musical fun.

"They rightly deserved their standing ovation. The group was brilliant." The Oxford Times, Oxford, United Kingdom

"The musicianship and playing were exceptional, with Dickow doing a wonderful job. All in all, a wonderful retrospective.” Jazz Journal, United Kingdom

A little about Michael Brecker:

Winner of 15 Grammy Awards, Michael Brecker was a prolific composer and leader of a range of different bands, as well as a guest soloist with many other ensembles. He was awarded some of the highest honors in jazz: an Honorary Doctorate from the Berklee College of Music and induction into DownBeat magazine's Hall of Fame.

He led his own quartet and was co-leader of the Brecker Brothers (with his brother, trumpeter Randy Becker), Steps Ahead (with vibraphonist Mike Mainieri), the Pat Metheny-Michael Brecker "Special Quartet", and "Directions in Music", co-led with Herbie Hancock and Roy Hargrove. In addition, he appeared in bands and on recordings led by Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Chet Baker, George Benson, Quincy Jones, Charles Mingus, Jaco Pastorius, McCoy Tyner, Dave Brubeck, and many others.

A little about Randy Brecker:

Jazz trumpeter and composer Randy Brecker has helped shape the sound of jazz, R&B and rock for more than four decades. His trumpet and flugelhorn performances have graced hundreds of albums by a wide range of artists from James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen and Parliament/Funkadelic to Frank Sinatra, Steely Dan, Jaco Pastorius and Frank Zappa.

Born in 1945 in Philadelphia to a musical family, Randy’s musical talent was nurtured from an early age. He attended Indiana University from 1963-66 studying with Bill Adam, David Baker and Jerry Coker and later moved to New York where he landed gigs with such prominent bands as Clark Terry’s Big Bad Band, the Duke Pearson Big Band and the Thad Jones Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra.

In 1967, Randy ventured into jazz-rock with the band Blood, Sweat and Tears, but left to join the Horace Silver Quintet. He recorded his first solo album, Score, in 1968, featuring a young, then unknown 19 year-old tenor saxophonist named Michael Brecker. After Horace Silver, Randy joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers before teaming up with brother Michael, Barry Rogers, Billy Cobham, and John Abercrombie to form the seminal fusion group ‘Dreams’.

In the early 1970s, Randy performed live with many prominent artists including Larry Coryell’s Eleventh House, Stevie Wonder and Billy Cobham. He also recorded several classic albums with his brother under the leadership of the great pianist/composer Hal Galper.

By 1975, Randy and Michael were ready to front their own group, the Brecker Brothers Band. A band of immeasurable impact and influence, they released six albums on Arista and garnered seven Grammy nominations between 1975 and 1981. Their eponymous first record, which Randy wrote, arranged and produced, featured his now classic composition “Some Skunk Funk.”

The rest is history!