Home » Jazz Musicians » Randy Brecker

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’. The group recorded two adventurous and wildly acclaimed albums: ‘Dreams’ and ‘Imagine My Surprise’ – now collector’s items – for Columbia Records before they disbanded in 1971.

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.”

In 1992, exactly ten years after they parted ways to pursue solo careers, Randy and Michael reunited for a world tour and the triple-Grammy nominated GRP recording, ‘The Return of the Brecker Brothers’. The follow-up, 1994’s ‘Out of the Loop,’ was a double-Grammy winner.

In 1997, ‘Into the Sun’ (Concord), a recording featuring Randy’s impressions of Brazil, garnered Randy his first Grammy as a solo artist.

In 2001, Randy released ‘Hangin’ in the City’ (ESC), a solo project which introduced his alter-ego Randroid, a skirt chasing, cab driving ne’er do well, with lyrics and vocals by Randroid himself. This CD was especially well received in Europe, where Randy toured extensively with his own line-up.

Read more

Tags

6
Album Review

Ivan Lins: My Heart Speaks

Read "My Heart Speaks" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Brazilian singer and composer Ivan Lins has recorded about fifty albums since 1970 but has not recorded one in over ten years. Now, this multiple Latin Grammy-Award winner remerges with the superb and inviting My Heart Speaks, perhaps the most impressive and lush recording of his long, distinguished career. An important feature here is the extraordinary collaboration with the 91-piece Tblisi Symphony Orchestra, the most popular orchestra from the Republic of Georgia in Eastern Europe, under the direction of Maestro ...

3
Album Review

Ivan Lins: My Heart Speaks

Read "My Heart Speaks" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Ivan Lins is a Brazilian music legend and multiple Latin Grammy Award winner who has consistently delivered a unique blend of bossa nova, jazz and pop throughout his career. In this first release in over ten years, entitled My Heart Speaks, Lins performs rare gems from his catalogue backed by the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra along with guest appearances from vocalists Dianne Reeves, Jane Monheit and newcomer Tawanda, as well as trumpeter Randy Brecker. The eleven songs ...

20
Album Review

Luiz Millan: Brazilian Match

Read "Brazilian Match" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Brazilian Match is a tour-de-force of classic and contemporary Brazilian music written by and featuring singer-songwriter Luiz Millan. Millan's fifth album is a leader is his first for Jazz Station Records and Brazilian jazz impresario Arnaldo DeSouteiro, whose storied history includes working with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Eumir Deodato, Dom Um Romão, João Donato, and other legends, and who called Millan “a composer's composer." “A great melodist who also happens to be a great poet, a fabulous storyteller; a ...

4
Album Review

Ivan Lins: My Heart Speaks

Read "My Heart Speaks" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright


My Heart Speaks opens with “Renata Maria," the song of a ravishing woman who emerges from the sea then disappears, leaving her would-be lover to yearn eternally. Ivan Lins composed the piece in 2004 with Chico Buarque in mind (punningly calling it a “Buarquiana brasileira"). Buarque invented the narrative later, presenting his lyric to Lins as a gift, upon the birth of his first grandchild. Kuno Schmid's score sets the scene. Warm orchestral waves wash over Lins' impassioned ...

3
Album Review

Alexander Claffy: Music From Big Orange

Read "Music From Big Orange" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Alexander Claffy has released an impressive album entitled “Music From Big Orange" which showcases his skills as a bassist and composer, and captures the essence of contemporary jazz while paying homage to the rich traditions of the genre. Switching seamlessly from acoustic bass to electric, depending on the sonic flow of any given tune, it is clear that Claffy's bass playing is the foundation upon which the entire album is built. On this orange-coloured vinyl LP, ...

7
Album Review

Bill O'Connell: Live In Montauk

Read "Live In Montauk" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


A rhythm section which includes Santi Debriano and Billy Hart is nothing if not part of a potential dream band. In Craig Handy, one finds a post-bop saxophonist who played with virtually everyone worth hearing over the last third of the twentieth century. For a variety of reasons pianist Bill O'Connell may be a little less well known outside the jny:New York City metropolitan area, but his signal contributions to Latin jazz with Dave Valentin, Jerry Gonzalez and Mongo Santamaria ...

23
Album Review

Bill O'Connell: Live In Montauk

Read "Live In Montauk" reviewed by Jack Bowers


After years of gigging in the New York City area, while honing his credentials as a first-call contemporary jazz pianist, Bill O'Connell and his family moved to Montauk, the easternmost point on Long Island, where he expressed his appreciation of the area's many wonders by recording this impressive album at the celebrated Gosman's Dock, during the annual Hamptons Jazz Festival in August 2021. It is essentially a quartet date with trumpeter Randy Brecker sitting in on two numbers, ...

Read more articles
7

Recording

Drummer Bob Holz Releases New Album 'Holz-Stathis: Collaborative' Featuring John McLaughlin, Jean-Luc Ponty, Darryl Jones And Randy Brecker

Drummer Bob Holz Releases New Album 'Holz-Stathis: Collaborative' Featuring John McLaughlin, Jean-Luc Ponty, Darryl Jones And Randy Brecker

Source: Glass Onyon PR - William James

Jazz fusion drummer and composer Bob Holz released his sixth album Holz-Stathis: Collaborative. on MVD Audio. Joining Holz on the album are John McLaughlin, Jean-Luc Ponty, Darryl Jones, Randy Brecker, Elliott Yamin, Alex Acuna, Airto Moreira, Brandon Fields, Ralphe Armstrong, Billy Steinway, Dean Brown, Ric Fierabracci, Jamie Glaser, Ada Rovatti, {{Karen Briggs, Diana Purim, Ben Shepherd and Frank Stepanek. The album features twelve new original tunes penned by Holz, Steinway and Brown. Rob Stathis is the Executive Producer. The album ...

1

Recording

Bill O'Connell New Release 'Live In Montauk' (Savant Records) Featuring Randy Brecker, Billy Hart, Craig Handy And Santi Debriano! Release Date: June 23rd

Bill O'Connell New Release 'Live In Montauk' (Savant Records) Featuring Randy Brecker, Billy Hart, Craig Handy And Santi Debriano! Release Date: June 23rd

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

Montauk—the easternmost point of Long Island—has enjoyed a reputation as an idyllic land of the lotus and poppy but now is fully woven in to the Hamptons summer scene. The charms and views associated with that coastal existence served as a backdrop for the creation of this recording. Notable for a number of reasons—as the first live band date in a lengthy discography, and a first on-record meeting with drumming icon Billy Hart—this Bill O’Connell session stands out. Recorded live ...

6

Recording

Italian Guitarist Luca di Luzio Releases 'Never Give Up' with Randy Brecker, George Whitty, Rodney Holmes and more!

Italian Guitarist Luca di Luzio Releases 'Never Give Up' with  Randy Brecker, George Whitty, Rodney Holmes and more!

Source: Jazzfuel

Funk, jazz and blues get a Mediterranean twist on Never Give Up, the latest album from Italian guitarist Luca di Luzio is available now. A jazz guitar graduate of the Conservatorio di Musica Frescobaldi, di Luzio showcases his pulling power with an all-star group which features trumpet legend Randy Brecker alongside keyboard player George Whitty, bassist Alain Caron, drummer Rodney Holmes and percussionist Steve Thornton. Studying first under the likes of greats including Pat Metheny, Jim Hall, and Mike Stern, ...

2

Recording

Pianist Louis Siciliano Releases 'Ancient Cosmic Truth' with Alex Acuña, Randy Brecker, Claudio Romano and Umberto Muselli

Pianist Louis Siciliano Releases 'Ancient Cosmic Truth' with Alex Acuña, Randy Brecker, Claudio Romano and Umberto Muselli

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

There are times in your life when you discover an artist that opens your mind to the infinite possibilities of the universe. For decades Louis Siciliano has been exploring the world of Electro Global Jazz by synthesizing a thousand years of Western musical tradition with ancient Indian, Persian and African musical cultures. So highly regarded as an innovator in the music industry, he now sits on the Grammy Awards panel delivering judgement on his peers. Now his self-titled quintet, consisting ...

3

Recording

Contempo-Jazz Guitarist B.D. Lenz 'It's Just A Dream' Releases On November 1st With Mike Stern & Randy Brecker!

Contempo-Jazz Guitarist B.D. Lenz 'It's Just A Dream' Releases On November 1st With Mike Stern & Randy Brecker!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

Contempo jazz guitarist B.D. Lenz returns with It's Just A Dream, his 13th recording as a leader and features one of his long-time heroes, Mike Stern, on guitar along with the legendary Randy Brecker on trumpet. It’s Just a Dream began as a small writing project during COVID and blossomed into a full release with ten original compositions of Lenz’s signature blend of jazz, funk, and rock. The New Jersey native says, “I never intended to write a whole record ...

1

Festival

11th Annual Arlington Jazz Festival with Headliners Randy Brecker And Mark Walker's World Jazz Ensemble from April 7-10, 2022

11th Annual Arlington Jazz Festival with Headliners Randy Brecker And Mark Walker's World Jazz Ensemble from April 7-10, 2022

Source: Mary Curtin Productions

The Arlington Jazz Festival (Boston) has scheduled a wide variety of musical events over a 4-day stretch in several venues around the town. The Festival, now in its 11th year, is presented by Arlington Jazz. This year’s headlining concert, held at the Regent Theatre on the final day of the festival, showcases legendary multi-Grammy award winning jazz trumpeter/composer Randy Brecker performing with Grammy winning drummer/composer Mark Walker and his World Jazz Ensemble, which features French pianist Alain Mallet, Peruvian bassist ...

3

Music Industry

Drummer Bob Holz To Release New Album Featuring Rolling Stones Bassist Darryl Jones And Trumpet Legend Randy Brecker

Drummer Bob Holz To Release New Album Featuring Rolling Stones Bassist Darryl Jones And  Trumpet Legend Randy Brecker

Source: Bob Holz

Jazz Fusion legend Bob Holz will release his fifth album for MVD Audio in late 2020. The record is titled Holz-Stathis Collaborative. Joining Bob Holz is Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones. Both Bob Holz and Darryl Jones have played with the late jazz fusion guitarist Larry Coryell. Bob Holz wrapped up a busy 2019 which included featured concerts at The Whiskey A Go Go and Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood, CA. Bassist Darryl Jones joined Bob Holz in the recording ...

3

Recording

Husband & Wife Team of Randy Brecker and Ada Rovatti Join Forces on New CD Brecker Plays Rovatti: Sacred Bond

Husband & Wife Team of Randy Brecker and Ada Rovatti Join Forces on New CD Brecker Plays Rovatti: Sacred Bond

Source: hubtone PR

Here’s a saying that ‘the family that plays together, stays together.’ That old adage is put into effect on Brecker Plays Rovatti: Sacred Bond, which not only features the husband and wife team of Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and fusion pioneer Randy Brecker and saxophonist-composer Ada Rovatti but also includes their 10-year-old daughter Stella in a vocal cameo appearance on one track. Backed by a versatile core group of pianist David Kikoski, bassist Alex Claffy and drummer Rodney Holmes, with guest ...

Recording

Then There’s This: Brecker With Holmquist And The UMO

Then There’s This: Brecker With Holmquist And The UMO

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

We have been meaning to call to your attention to an instance in which–unlike, say, the trade talks between the US and China–international cooperation works beautifully. The trumpeter featured on this album is Randy Brecker, one of the leading American players of the Instrument for more than fifty years. He performs with Finland’s UMO Jazz Orchestra, led by the distinguished arranger and composer Mats Holmquist, who is Swedish. The CD presents three well-known pieces composed by the American pianist Chick ...

4

Recording

Nancy Kelly Releases April 26th Remembering Mark Murphy Featuring Randy Brecker And More!

Nancy Kelly Releases April 26th Remembering Mark Murphy Featuring Randy Brecker And More!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

"People often ask me who my favorite singer is, and my answer is always, without hesitation, Mark Murphy. With Mark's passing, I was moved to honor him musically with this recording. It was early in my singing career that a friend turned me on to Mark. Most of the songs chosen for this recording were ones that influenced or moved me to become a jazz singer. Some are are now iconic Mark Murphy, to be forever associated with him. When ...

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Gin

Self Produced
2024

buy

Ancient Cosmic Truth

Musica Presente Records
2023

buy

Once in a Lifetime

Origin Records
2023

buy

Brazilian Match

Jazz Station Records
2023

buy

Rovanio: The Music of...

In + Out Records
2023

buy

Commitment

Self Produced
2023

buy

Andar Descalço (Barefoot) feat. Randy Brecker

From: Brazilian Match
By Randy Brecker

Do Nothing till You Hear From Me

From: Live In Montauk
By Randy Brecker

In the Grove of the Jacarandas

From: Brazilian Match
By Randy Brecker

Come Back to Me

From: Once in a Lifetime
By Randy Brecker

Our Darker Angels (feat. Mike Stern)

From: It's Just a Dream
By Randy Brecker

Ondé

From: Dice Que Vive (Signs Of Life)
By Randy Brecker

This Is the Thing

From: Live at the Berlin...
By Randy Brecker

Blue Roses

From: Variations Of Relevance
By Randy Brecker

Any Way

From: The Runner Up
By Randy Brecker

A Night In Calisia

From: Randy Brecker plays Wlodek...
By Randy Brecker

Salt Water

From: The Runner Up
By Randy Brecker

Sambop

From: Randy in Brasil
By Randy Brecker

Videos

Similar

Jaco Pastorius
bass, electric
Michael Brecker
saxophone, tenor
Charlie Haden
bass, acoustic
Kenny G
saxophone, soprano
Yellowjackets
band / ensemble / orchestra
Steps Ahead
band / ensemble / orchestra

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.