DMA Option 2 Thesis and Option 3 Scholarly Essay DEPOSIT COVERSHEET University of Illinois Music and Performing Arts Library Date: 2/26/2021 DMA Option (circle):3 [scholarly essay] Your full name: Christopher Aaron Madsen Full title of Thesis or Essay: The Significant Contributions of the Brecker Brothers Bands, 1975-1996 Keywords (4-8 recommended) Please supply a minimum of 4 keywords. Keywords are broad terms that relate to your thesis and allow readers to find your work through search engines. When choosing keywords consider: composer names, performers, composition names, instruments, era of study (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, etc.), theory, analysis. You can use important words from the title of your paper or abstract, but use additional terms as needed. 1. ____________jazz_____________________ 2. __________fusion_______________________ 3. __________Brecker_______________________ 4. ___________saxophone______________________ 5. ___________trumpet______________________ 6. _________________________________ 7. _________________________________ 8. _________________________________ If you need help constructing your keywords, please contact Dr. Tharp, Director of Graduate Studies. Information about your advisors, department, and your abstract will be taken from the thesis/essay and the departmental coversheet. THE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE BRECKER BROTHERS BANDS, 1975– 1996 BY CHRISTOPHER AARON MADSEN SCHOLARLY ESSAY Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Music with a concentration in Jazz Performance in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2021 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Charles McNeill, Chair and Director of Research Lecturer Megan Eagen-Jones Emeritus Professor Erik Lund Associate Professor Joel Spencer ABSTRACT The Brecker Brothers band was a jazz/funk/rock fusion ensemble which began in 1975 in New York City. Originally from Philadelphia, brothers Randy (trumpet, 1945-) and Michael (1949–2007) began their careers in the 1960s and soon became top call session musicians for big-name pop and rock acts in the early 1970s. During this time, Randy began to assemble ideas for a fusion ensemble which would realize his compositional ideas combining aspects of his jazz training alongside his experience performing with more commercial artists. From this, the Brecker Brothers band was born. I see this research as the first step toward wider recognition of the Brecker Brothers band. I anticipate that others will follow with further examination of the group so that its legacy is ce- mented in the larger jazz fusion conversation. This is a conversation which frequently cites Tony Williams’ Lifetime, the Miles Davis groups of the late 1960s/early 70s, Herbie Hancock’s Head- hunters, John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Chick Corea’s Return to Forever as the significant contributors to 1970s jazz fusion. My contention is that the Brecker Brothers should also occupy a place here; indeed, their willingness to incorporate much more commercial-friend- ly fare alongside more experimental music constituted a unique place within this framework. “Introduction” provides the context under which the band began, giving some history about the late 1960s jazz fusion scene and how the Brecker Brothers fit into it. “Comparative Analysis” traces the evolution of the band from many angles: I examine the most commonly per- formed repertoire and when certain important pieces were introduced to the band’s set lists. Like its fusion counterpart Weather Report, the Brecker Brothers band underwent frequent personnel ii shifts which caused its studio and live performances to have a freshness to them as members of the ensemble changed. Who these people were and how long they stayed with the band are topics I explore in this essay. The final section, “Influence of the Brecker Brothers Band," dives into the legacy of the ensemble and compares the Brecker Brothers with their contemporaries, particular- ly during the band’s first iteration. “Influence of the Brecker Brothers band” explains how the musicians were influenced by their peers as well as how they influenced others. I also explore the lasting impact of the band and pinpoint which artists may have been influenced by their per- formance and compositional techniques. A “Catalog” of all Brecker Brothers performances is included as an appendix. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project would not have been possible without the remarkable expertise of my doc- toral committee, particularly Charles “Chip” McNeill. I will be eternally grateful to them for providing me with their intellectual insights during my four years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I have not only learned much during this time, but I have been given the tools by which to continue a lifetime of learning. Thank you all. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………….…………..1 1.1 Historical Background of the Fusion Movement……………………………………..1 1.2 How the Brecker Brothers Bands Fit the Fusion Movement…………………………4 CHAPTER 2: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS.……………………………..……………………..7 2.1 Repertoire and Personnel…………………………………………………………….7 2.2 Compositional Analysis Within First Iteration (1975–1981)……………………..…15 2.3 Compositional Evolution from First to Second Iteration (1992–1996)…………..…31 2.4 Improvisational Evolution…………………………………………………………..40 CHAPTER 3: INFLUENCE OF THE BRECKER BROTHERS BAND .....................................47 3.1 The Brecker Brothers Versus Their Contemporaries………………………………..47 3.2 The Continuing Impact of the Brecker Brothers Band…………………….……..…50 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................53 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................................................55 DISCOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………….……..59 APPENDIX A: CATALOG OF REPERTOIRE AND PERSONNEL IN THE BRECKER BROTHERS BANDS ....................................................................................................................60 v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION There was something special about the Brecker Brothers and the band they co-led off and on for over twenty years. Brian Zimmerman from Jazziz Magazine describes the Brecker Brothers band as “mold-breaking."1 Bob Reeves from bobreeves.com, a leading brass mouthpiece manufactur- er, calls them “a band of immeasurable impact and influence."2 Chris Kelsey from allmusic.com calls them “one of the most intelligent and creative fusion outfits."3 Most within the jazz com- munity will cite the Brecker Brothers as important innovators in the field of sonic manipulation; their experimentation using guitar and synthesizer effects on wind instruments set them apart from their colleagues, but other innovations of theirs are often overlooked. The Brecker brothers pushed jazz fusion from the more abstract, ethereal style of the late 1960s and early 1970s into a place which, by decade’s end, placed more of a premium on virtuosity and studio-style execu- tion. 1.1 Historical Background of the Fusion Movement When Miles Davis first began to experiment with electronics and the influence of rock and funk ensembles in his own music, the jazz fusion “boulder” began its slow but inevitable roll into the 1970s. Fusion’s tenure lasted roughly until the early 1980s, although it continues as an undercurrent of mainstream jazz to this day. Jazz fusion borrows equally from traditional jazz 1 “The Touring Life: Travel Tips and Road Stories from Randy Brecker,” interview by Brian Zimmerman, Jazziz, February 28, 2019, https://www.jazziz.com/the-touring-life-travel-tips-and-road-stories-from-randy-brecker/. 2 “Randy Brecker-Trumpet Interview,” Bob Reeves Brass Mouthpieces, June 1, 2017, http://www.bobreeves.com/ blog/randy-brecker-trumpet-interview/. 3 Chris Kelsey, “The Brecker Brothers | Biography," Allmusic, accessed October 12, 2020, https://www.allmusic.- com/artist/the-brecker-brothers-mn0000521674/biography. 1 (particularly the harmonic concepts), funk (rhythms) and rock (amplification and sonic en- hancement). One aesthetic differences with jazz fusion versus what came before is the adoption of rock attire. The musicians are dressed casually on stage, the way rock players are expected to look. Quietly developing in the background of this scene were brothers Michael and Randy Brecker, who were recording session musicians in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The saxophon- ist and trumpeter, respectively, had been members of seminal rock and rhythm-and-blues ensem- bles at that time including Blood Sweat and Tears, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, Johnny and Edgar Winter, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, and Carly Simon. Randy states in a 1978 interview: “I had constantly been writing on my own...when I finally had enough music to do an album. Arista approached us to sign with them. I think it was, like, ‘74 or ‘75 but the idea had been around for a long time; it was just a question of getting enough music together and getting a concept together which slowly evolved from all the stuff we had been doing, from the rock n roll gigs and the jazz gigs and eventually some mixture…evolved.”4 Because of their backgrounds, the brothers approached the jazz fusion genre with a much different mindset than the musicians mentioned previously. The Brecker brothers had cut their teeth playing and recording with some jazz ensembles, to be sure, but performed with plenty of popular,