The Severed Cortex

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/01/15/obit.brecker.ap/index.html

This happened on Saturday apparently. My friend Jeff Stone called to tell me today. Jeff said he was driving to band practice today and decided to listen to a CD with Mike Stern and Michael Brecker because he hadn't listened to any jazz in a long time. When he walked into practice he was told that Brecker died.

He was certainly one of the greatest saxaphone players ever, but he was a little too far out there for me at times. I own the first two Brecker Brothers CD's featuring Michael with his brother Randy and the second of these, The Return of The Brecker Brothers is still one of my favorites even though there was almost no straight ahead jazz on it. I also own a half dozen other jazz dates that he appears on.