Ode to a Tenor Titan: The Life and Times and Music of Michael Brecker
by Bill Milkowski (Music 781.65 Bre)
Michael Brecker is likely the most
influential saxophonist in the post-Coltrane era, and at last we have a
comprehensive biography of his work, called Ode to a Tenor Titan: The Life and Times and Music of Michael
Brecker. Author Bill Milkowski is an esteemed music journalist
with an emphasis on jazz, having written for Downbeat, Jazz Times, Guitar
Player, Jazziz, and many more publications, as well as writing several books
about jazz and rock-related subjects. He’s obviously deeply researched his
subject, and this proves to be both a great biography of Brecker and a solid
overview of the jazz scene, especially of the 80s and 90s.
Although he’s been gone for 15
years now, the beginning and ending of Ode to a Tenor Titan still carry a tone
reminiscent of a funeral for someone gone far too soon. Michael’s brother Randy
provides a brief but touching foreword to the book, pointing out that he is
remembered by many not just for his music, but also for his helping many people
facing substance abuse issues, and for raising awareness of myelodysplastic
syndrome. For those more familiar with his music than his life story (like me),
we’ll learn far more in the pages of this book. And at the end of the book,
there is a substantial appendix made of so-called “Testimonials to a Tenor
Titan,” remembrances of Brecker given by many of his contemporaries. Reading through these obviously brings home
the impact he had on so many.
As for the main body of the book,
it’s a chronological journey through Brecker’s life. Things start off with some
family remembrances courtesy of Randy Brecker, who tells us what a musical family
the brothers grew up in. Eventually, both attended Indiana University’s music
school, with Randy graduating as Michael entered the freshman class. Even in
those early years, his classmates recalled that his prowess as a soloist turned
heads. Also of note is that Michael was already interested in adding elements
of rock music into jazz, and his first bands were essentially fusion bands. His
first band ended rather badly after relocating to Chicago to record a demo —
I’ll let you read up on the details in the book — and then he moved to New York
City, where his career really began. Almost immediately after arriving in New
York, Michael made his recorded debut on Randy’s first solo album, called
“Score,” when he was only 19.
Michael ended up living in a loft,
and becoming part of the 70s loft scene, where free jazz was continuing to
develop in the wake of players like Coltrane and Ayler. And he was continuing
to develop his interests toward a kind of jazz-rock fusion as well. In the band
Dreams, the Brecker brothers worked together with drummer Billy Cobham, and
created a powerful rock-band-with-horns lineup in the spirit of other bands
like Chicago.
In the 1970s section of the book, I
was especially taken by the description of the basic conditions jazz musicians
practiced under, as reported by guitarist Steve Kahn: “During this time, there
was no Real Book, there were no playalong tapes, no YouTube, no instructional
videos, there was nothing like that. And so if you wanted to know all those
great Blue Note tunes, or all the Miles solos, or whatever, you had to do it
yourself.” So everyone had notebooks full of their own self-disciplined
practices, transcribing tunes and solos. It’s hard to even imagine how
different things were not so long ago.
The Brecker brothers kept playing
with various jazz combos, and became top session musicians in New York. They
formed the Brecker Brothers band, and played with lots of musical luminaries,
from Yoko Ono to Frank Zappa. Michael Brecker was one of the busiest horn players
on the planet. And somewhere in that chaos, like many of his contemporaries, he
turned to heroin. Although it’s obviously not a pleasant story, there is an
unflinching look at some of the substance abuse issues that plagued the NYC
jazz scene in the 70s here, with Brecker and more generally. Fortunately, by
the early 80s he’d had enough, and managed to permanently break his habit after
a five-week rehab stint. And what’s really heartening to read is how he was
then able to help so many of his colleagues and friends get their own lives on
track in the coming years. As a musician whom many looked up to, he took his
role as a mentor seriously, both on a musical and a personal level.
Toward the end of the book,
Milkowski addresses what would prove to be Brecker’s final challenge, which was
being diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome. Despite being in considerable
pain in the last several years of his life, he continued to compose, record and
perform as much as possible, and approved the final mixes of his last album
just days before he died. He maintained his optimism and stayed in touch with
friends and family through it all, and the publicity around trying to find a
matching stem cell donor turned out to be the beginning of a public awareness
campaign that has continued through the work of his wife, Susan. In subsequent
years, she has hosted benefit concerts, started the Time Is of the Essence
Fund, and coproduced a documentary. Many people have found matches because of
her film. She is also keeping Brecker’s musical legacy alive by donating his
musical ephemera to create the Michael Brecker Archive at William Paterson
University, and by founding the Michael Brecker International Saxophone
Competition.
It’s a finely-detailed book — I
haven’t even mentioned the coverage of Brecker’s activities in the 80s and 90s
here — and if you’re a fan, this is an essential read.
(If you enjoy this, you may also
wish to try Jazz Rock: A History by Stuart Nichsolson or Loft Jazz: Improvising New York in the 1970s by Michael C.
Heller.)
( official Ode to a Tenor Titan page on the official Bill Milkowski
web site )
Recommended
by Scott S.
Polley Music Library
Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?
New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!
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