owl Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070114/ap_en_mu/obit_brecker Michael Brecker, a versatile and influential tenor saxophonist who won 11 Grammys over a career that spanned more than three decades, died Saturday. He was 57. Brecker died in a hospital in New York City of leukemia, according to his longtime friend and manager, Darryl Pitt. In recent years, the saxophonist had struggled with myelodysplastic syndrome, a cancer in which the bone marrow stops producing enough healthy blood cells. The disease, known as MDS, often progresses to leukemia. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 This was really really sad news. He was just a touch less than a year older than I am. He has played with everyone who is anyone too. Thanks for posting this. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mattboh Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Alice Coltrane passed away on Friday. We lost 2 giants this weekend. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070114/ts_al...us_070114220306 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Alice Coltrane passed away on Friday. We lost 2 giants this weekend. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070114/ts_al...us_070114220306I had not read that Alice Coltrane passed away. This is also sad, but she wasn't a giant. (I am not even sure Micheal Brecker was a giant, he was a very talented and prolific musican however.) She was the reasonably talented, second wife of John Coltrane, who was a giant. Had she not been associated with him, we may never have even heard of her. None the less this is sad news. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
So Long Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 I just read about Michael Brecker's death. I couldn't believe it, I'm still sort of in shock. A huge loss to the jazz industry. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Welsh Rich Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 I must have missed this over the weekend - a terrible loss... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ludwig Von Drake Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 I had not read that Alice Coltrane passed away. This is also sad, but she wasn't a giant. (I am not even sure Micheal Brecker was a giant, he was a very talented and prolific musican however.) She was the reasonably talented, second wife of John Coltrane, who was a giant. Had she not been associated with him, we may never have even heard of her. None the less this is sad news. LouieB Her albums set a landmark in jazz. Sadly, like you point out, her husband was a giant, so she was always in his shadow (not on purpose, of course). And by the time she made her most important work, most people avoided it because the cynical 70s have already crushed most peoples' dreams concerning the messages she was presenting with her music... Personally, I hope that her death will let people be able to take a second chance with her without the weight of the times (the late 1960s, 1970s) preventing them to fully take on the task. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Her albums set a landmark in jazz. Sadly, like you point out, her husband was a giant, so she was always in his shadow (not on purpose, of course). And by the time she made her most important work, most people avoided it because the cynical 70s have already crushed most peoples' dreams concerning the messages she was presenting with her music... Personally, I hope that her death will let people be able to take a second chance with her without the weight of the times (the late 1960s, 1970s) preventing them to fully take on the task.What landmark are you referring to?? Her musicianship or the spiritual/message? LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ludwig Von Drake Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 What landmark are you referring to?? Her musicianship or the spiritual/message? LouieB Spiritual message. She was not the best of musicians, but she was able to still create some beautiful albums. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Spiritual message. She was not the best of musicians, but she was able to still create some beautiful albums.Well we agree on this... LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I heard a bunch of Alice Coltrane and Michael Brecker last night on WGBH in Boston's Eric in the Evening jazz program, and I have nothing nice to say about what I heard. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I heard a bunch of Alice Coltrane and Michael Brecker last night on WGBH in Boston's Eric in the Evening jazz program, and I have nothing nice to say about what I heard.Meaning?? You didn't like it or what? LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Meaning?? You didn't like it or what?I didn't like it. I mean, RIP and all, but yikes. Alice Coltrane's tunes were super-bugged out (wayyy out, like I even pictured Pharoah Sanders going "Man this is some trippy shit*" during it), and Brecker's sounded like mall music. Granted this was a 20-30 minute sampling of the artists, but I trust the host of that show to showcase what these people were about. *not that I don't dig some trippy shit, but it was also unremarkable. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I didn't like it. I mean, RIP and all, but yikes. Alice Coltrane's tunes were super-bugged out (wayyy out, like I even pictured Pharoah Sanders going "Man this is some trippy shit*" during it), and Brecker's sounded like mall music. Granted this was a 20-30 minute sampling of the artists, but I trust the host of that show to showcase what these people were about. *not that I don't dig some trippy shit, but it was also unremarkable.If you see my comments above, when someone called both of these individuals "giants" I commented that I felt that neither fit that description. Brecker was certainly a competent and ubiquitous sideman, but I never got the feeling he was a jazz heavyweight by any stretch of the imagination. Nothing wrong with having a great career as a sideman, but he isn't one of immortals. I also commented that Alice's chief claim to fame was her relationship with one of the true giants, John Coltrane himself. Nothing in Alice's work in John late career bands was that outstanding as far as I was concerned either and her trippy spiritual work never struck a chord with me personally. I admit I only heard one or two of her solo albums (Journey to Satchedenanda was big when I was in college), but it certainly was nothing I ever felt like I needed to re-live after those years. All her work seems to be in print, since I saw much of it at Laurie's yesterday. Frankly I am surprised it still has some reasonance for someone. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 If you see my comments above, when someone called both of these individuals "giants" I commented that I felt that neither fit that description.I had read that comment, and it resonated as I was listening last night. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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