The Brecker Brothers were a

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

music duo consisting of siblings

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and Randy. Michael played saxophone, flute, and EWI, and Randy played trumpet and

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

. The brothers attended Cheltenham High School in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. Randy, the older brother, became famous as an original member of the group

Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is an American jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. BS&T has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and ...

. He appeared on their debut album '' Child Is Father to the Man'' in 1968. Michael first appeared on record supporting Randy on his solo debut album, titled '' Score'', which was released in 1969. In 1970 and 1971 the brothers were members of the group Dreams who recorded two albums for Columbia Records. The brothers frequently played together, and individually, as

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

s on recordings by other artists. They were heard on

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophistica ...

's hit " Hello It's Me", which reached No. 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1973. Other notable appearances include Parliament's '' Mothership Connection'' and the debut album of the Japanese fusion group Casiopea. They also appeared on Bruce Springsteen's 1975 album '' Born to Run''. The brothers were encouraged to start their own group by an executive at

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

. Between 1975 and 1981 they released six albums on Arista as The Brecker Brothers. The group had a hit single with "East River" in 1979. It reached No. 34 in the UK Singles Chart. The duo backed up Frank Zappa on the live album '' Zappa in New York''. The recordings were made during a special appearance of the brothers with members of the Saturday Night Live Band at Zappa concerts at the

Palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...

in December 1976. The brothers appeared with

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

on the 1984 Frank Sinatra album '' L.A. Is My Lady'' and on

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

's 1986 album ''

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, August ...

''. Between 1992 and 1994 the Brecker Brothers released two more albums under their own name on GRP Records. Both brothers also had prolific recording careers as leaders of their own ensembles. Their collaboration ended in 2007 when Michael Brecker died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

, aged 57.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' The Brecker Bros.'' ( Arista, 1975) * '' Back to Back'' (Arista, 1976) * '' Don’t Stop the Music'' (Arista, 1977) * '' Detente'' (Arista, 1980) * '' Straphangin''' (Arista, 1981) * '' Return of the Brecker Brothers'' ( GRP, 1992) * '' Out of the Loop'' (GRP, 1994) -

37th Annual Grammy Awards The 37th Annual Grammy Awards were presented on March 1, 1995, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Bruce Springsteen was the night's biggest winner with 4 awards, including Song ...

Best Contemporary Jazz Performance

Live albums

* '' Heavy Metal Be-Bop'' (Arista, 1978) * ''The Bottom Line Archive Series - The Brecker Brothers'' (Bottom Line, 2015) - recorded 1976 * ''Live and Unreleased '' (Leopard, 2020) - recorded 1980

Compilation albums

* '' The Brecker Bros. Collection, Vol 1'' (RCA Novus, 1990) * '' The Brecker Bros. Collection, Vol 2'' (RCA Novus, 1991)

As sideman

Jack Wilkins Jack Rivers Lewis (June 3, 1944 – May 5, 2023), known professionally as Jack Wilkins, was an American jazz guitarist. Career A native of New York City, Wilkins grew up listening to his parents' music, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, a ...

, ''Merge'' (

Chiaroscuro In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...

, 1992) - recorded in 1977 * Jack Wilkins, ''Reunion'' (Chiaroscuro, 2001)

References

External links

Profile Profile or profiles may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Music * ''Profile'' (Jan Akkerman album), 1973 * ''Profile'' (Githead album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Pat Donohue album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Duke Pearson album), 1959 * '' ''Profi ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{Authority control Jazz ensembles from New York City American jazz fusion ensembles Grammy Award winners Sibling musical duos GRP Records artists Arista Records artists Musical groups established in the 1970s