Randy Brecker

Randy Brecker is essentially a fine hard bop trumpet soloist, but one versatile enough to fit into nearly any setting, including in the pop world, funk bands, and jazz fusion. He studied classical trumpet and attended Indiana University. Brecker was with Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1967, and spent 1968-1969 playing with Horace Silver's quintet. He also appeared with the big bands of Clark Terry, Duke Pearson, Frank Foster, and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. After playing with the early fusion group Dreams in 1969, he worked with Larry Coryell's Eleventh House and Billy Cobham, in addition to keeping very busy with studio work. He teamed up with Michael Brecker in the popular funk-oriented Brecker Brothers (1974-1979); in the '80s he often collaborated with his wife, pianist/vocalist Eliane Elias; and in the '90s he toured with the reunited Brecker Brothers. But Randy Brecker still sounds best when in a freewheeling bebop combo, and fortunately he occasionally records in that type of spontaneous setting. As a solo artist, Brecker has released numerous outstanding albums including his 1969 debut Score, 1987's In the Idiom with saxophonist Joe Henderson and bassist Ron Carter, 1995's contemporary and Brazilian jazz-infused Into the Sun, 2003's ode to Manhattan 34th N Lex, and 2008's Randy in Brasil. In 2011, Brecker was featured with the DR Big Band and the Danish National Chamber Orchestra on the album The Jazz Ballad Songbook.

from Wikipedia:

Randal "Randy" Brecker (b. Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Horace Silver, Frank Zappa, Parliament-Funkadelic, Chris Parker, Jaco Pastorius, Dire Straits, Todd Rundgren, Blue Öyster Cult, Richard Barone, Spyro Gyra, Barbara Dennerlein and many others. In his formative years, Brecker studied trumpet with Bill Adam at Indiana University.

Career

He played on the first Blood Sweat & Tears album, Child Is Father to the Man, but left the band when founder Al Kooper and trumpeter Jerry Weiss left. Lew Soloff replaced him for the second and subsequent albums. He was a charter member of Larry Coryell's seminal jazz fusion band The Eleventh House in 1973.

He is the older brother of the late jazz saxophonist Michael Brecker (1949–2007). Together they led Dreams and the Brecker Brothers, a popular funk and fusion band which recorded several albums from the 1970s through the 1990s. After the Brecker Brothers disbanded in 1982, Randy recorded and toured as a member of Jaco Pastorius' Word of Mouth big band. It was soon thereafter that he met and later married Brazilian jazz pianist Eliane Elias. Eliane and Randy formed their own band, touring the world several times and recording one album together, Amanda on Passport Records.

In the summer of 2001, Randy reunited with his brother Michael for a Europe tour with an acoustic version of the Brecker Brothers, also promoting songs from Hangin´ In The City. His most recent CD for ESC, 34th N Lex released in April 2003, features eleven new Randy Brecker compositions and arrangements and the "dream horn section" of David Sanborn, Michael Brecker, Fred Wesley and Ronnie Cuber, along with Randy's regular working band and his current wife, the Italian tenor saxophonist Ada Rovatti, whose playing style bears a striking resemblance to Michael Brecker's. He is part of the GRP All-Star Big Band.