© - Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all
rights reserved.
Although he wrote
this for the version of Michael Brecker’s tune African Skies that appears on Michael’s Tales from the Hudson CD
[Impulse! IMPD – 191], Ralph Miriello’s annotation might just as easily apply
to the version of the tune on the
soundtrack to the following video tribute to The Brecker Brothers.
“In this Michael
Brecker composition, we find a wonderful example of how creatively arranged
instrumentation played by sympathetic and talented musicians can paint a sonic
landscape that transports the listener to any exotic destination. The song
starts with a rhythmic bottom that could easily have been taken from an
indigenous African tribal celebration.”
The Brecker
Brothers, Michael and Randy, came of age at a time when various forms of
Jazz-Rock fusion were the norm rather than the exception. As a result, blending and expanding the
synthesizing of these musical forms was an essential part of their musical
expression.
Another “new”
development that found favor with Michael and Randy was the use of electronic
instrumentation in their music, whether it was through the use of pick-ups
attached to Michael’s saxophones or Randy’s trumpet, of Michael’s performances
on the EWI [electronic wind instrument] or their use of keyboard synthesizers
or drum machines.
The Brecker
Brothers were also at home with unusual or odd time signatures and the poly
rhythms found in the music from other parts of the world such as Africa , The Caribbean and Latin America . Juxtaposing 6/8 time signatures with a
bar of ¾ played as a quarter note triplet was just as easy for The Brecker
Brothers as sitting on a 4/4 back beat.
It’s all on
display in the following video. Just open up your eyes and ears a bit and allow
yourself to be transported to the Jazz world of The Brecker Brothers with its complex
rhythms and tonalities, electronic instruments and effects and recording
processes marked by technical wizardry.
Be careful,
though, while trying to tap your toe to it.
