Directions In Music

A remarkable technician and a highly influential tenor-saxophonist (the biggest influence on other tenors since Wayne Shorter), Michael Brecker took a long time before getting around to recording his first solo album. He has spent much of his career as a top-notch studio player who often appeared backing pop singers, leading some jazz listeners to overlook his very strong improvising skills.

Michael Brecker originally started on clarinet and alto before switching to tenor in high school. Early on he played with rock and R&B-oriented bands. In 1969 he moved to New York and soon joined Dreams, an early fusion group. Brecker was with Horace Silver during 1973-74, gigged with Billy Cobham and then co-led the Brecker Brothers (a commercially successful funk group) with his brother-trumpeter Randy Brecker for most of the 1970's. He was with Steps (later Steps Ahead) in the early '80's, doubled on an EWI (electronic wind instrument) and made a countless number of studio sessions during the 1970's and '80's, popping up practically everywhere (including with James Taylor, Yoko Ono and Paul Simon). With the release of his first album as a leader in 1987 (when he was already 38), Brecker started appearing more often in challenging jazz settings. He recorded additional sets as a leader (in 1988 and 1990), teamed up with McCoy Tyner on one of 1995's most rewarding jazz recordings and toured with a reunited Brecker Brothers band. Two Blocks from the Edge followed in 1998.

— Scott Yanow, All-Music Guide

This album was recorded live in Toronto during the 2001 Directions in Music tour that featured Herbie Hancock (piano), Michael Brecker (tenor sax) and Roy Hargrove (trumpet and flugelhorn), with Brian Blade (drums) and John Patitucci (bass) rounding out the quintet. The idea of the sold-out tour was to pay tribute to Miles Davis and John Coltrane, or, more specifically, to honor their creative spirit. If this recording is an indication of what went down at those dates, then the tour was certainly an artistic as well as commercial triumph. Live at Massey Hall consists of eight tracks, all of which merit close attention. For an extended listen to Brecker and Hargrove, however, you can't beat "So What/Impressions," a Davis/Coltrane mélange. The song opens with Patitucci working a cool little one-minute bass solo, and then Hargrove and Brecker assay a joint thematic statement. Hargrove then steps off into a sparsely phrased solo (indeed a bit reminiscent of Miles), pushing the amplitude of his sound and piling up notes with amazing agility. Brecker answers Hargrove with a tenor sax solo that gets loose very quickly and holds a nervy edge for the duration, eventually achieving a stuttering angularity that returns the quintet to the melody line.

Brecker's seven-and-a-half minute, unaccompanied solo on "Naima" is sheer tenor sax virtuosity. The ensemble's powerful rendering of Coltrane's "Transition," undertaken at a breakneck pace, is a blizzard of intensely swinging solos, and they do it again on the Brecker original "D Trane." Hancock's comping wizardry, extra tasty on "Misstery," is a constant, and when he takes his solo turns, his playing is masterful and full of very good ideas.

Live at Massey Hall is a fine release for Verve and an album bound to make a powerful impression on jazz fans.

—Philip Van Vleck -- CDNOW

Directions in Music marks Herbie Hancock's all-star tribute to Miles Davis and John Coltrane. It's clearly a chance for Hancock to return once again to his creative roots, when he was in Davis's great quintet of the mid-'60s, and he has excellent companions for the journey in Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove, the tenor saxophonist and trumpeter who clearly demonstrate their inspiration in Coltrane and Miles. The CD begins with a reprise of Hancock's "Sorcerer" from his Miles period, with bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade, who were so crucial a part of Wayne Shorter's Footprints Live, and prove themselves just as important here. Blade is especially driving, pressing Hancock and the horns to complex creative dialogue. The synthesis of "So What/Impressions," already closely linked tunes, benefits from the input of some fresh creative thinking, while Brecker's long cadenza on "Naima" is an effective invocation of Coltrane's intrepid virtuosity. Over 78 minutes in length, this is energetic, sometimes brilliant music, in many ways resembling Hancock's own classic, Maiden Voyage.

—Stuart Broomer -- Amazon