Michael Brecker 1996 Interview - Practicing

[flangeres1752]

I have loved Mike's playing for about 40 years....met him at Camden Community College in NJ when he played with Billy Cobham....I think we can all say that Mike's music will live on in us forever! An incredible jazz icon.

[SOULJAMGO]

The Maestro

[fpagliato]

Hey JazzVideoGuy, do you have the whole interview? Do you know where I can download it? Thanks.

[Leoq2000]

Such a great musician, pro and person

[Alejandro4891]

these interviews are great for aspiring musicians like myself. hearing an established musician state that he practices just for maintenance is reassuring.

[vpsaxman]

The recognition he got right after he died compared to right before disgusts me.

[twangbarfly]

"I have to practice or I feel I have shirked my responsibility"

As a man and a musician, in equal measure, Michael Brecker is one of the most inspirational people I can think of. On his instrument he is grace, elegance and power incarnate. I'm a guitarist, but there are few other musicians who inspire me more than Michael. Sincere thanks for posting these wonderful videos.

[samyrization]

ci manchi !!!

[TheKasperkat]

"there are periods where im doing it better than others, some times its just maintanince practicing, and then theres periods of pure growth.. "

Quite important to understand.

[GMD825]

Great to have this on tape !!!!

[hecbiz75]

This was in 1966? Really? I doubt it. More like '86.

[77syzygy]

@hecbiz75 1996, it's in the title of the video.

[hecbiz75]

@77syzygy See, Brecker was born in 1949. If this was filmed in 1966, he would've been 17 years old! Get where I'm going? Is he really that young in this video? I doubt it. Once again, this is probably footage from the 1980's, or the late 1970's at best.

[hecbiz75]

@77syzygy Oops. Either they fixed it (it says 1996), or I need new glasses, because I swear it said 1966. :-) I KNEW it just couldn't be in the 60's.

[77syzygy]

@hecbiz75 No worries man. Yea, you misread it. Notice my post from from 5 months ago in the highest rated comment section. It was titled "Michael Brecker 1996 Interview-Practicing" back then as well.

[honkysaxophone]

he's talking about all of his inspirations and it's funny because he's really my inspiration

[jazzyjazz2u]

This is so great. Thank you for posting this. It's so great to hear what is going on in the mind of such great talent. Brecker is just unforgettably brilliant.

[JettRink50]

I'm sorry I have never heard of you. Good luck.

[zbalder14]

I found it interesting when he said he was a slow learner.... i mean, here is one of the greatest saxophonists in the last 30 or so years.... the amount he practiced must be unquantifiable

[Humberto6Moreno]

He truly inspires. Thanks for sharing

[silwyanlucyan]

hy...can anyone pls help me.?.where can i find karaoke mp3 files to buy.?...any kind of jazz files....thx..i hope you did understand i was trying to say...

[ManielDemFef]

We miss you Michael.... A really great loss for the jazz world and a loss of a great person :(

[tristanhallsvids]

lol 1966 interview...

[77syzygy]

I knew Michael was very sick however when he died I was depressed for a week. I tried contacting his wife before he died to become a possible donor since they were looking for people w/ a Russian-Jewish heritage, but I never heard back. I felt somewhat guilty for not trying harder but became less so after talking to Mike Stern a few weeks ago @ Yoshi's Oakland. He said they had already tried everything but Michael was too ill to be saved. I still miss him.

[keepdiggin33]

All I can say is I saw him on tour from this album in Philly in 96 and I was inspired for days.Seeing great players live can tranform you.Literally

[pretorious700]

Tales From the Hudson is a beautiful recording

[centrifical007]

1 Of The All-Time Greatest Musicians....

[lvasaxman]

1:09 Im very slow?

you are much too modest

[Coltranized]

66'? or 96'? lol

[tomsax1]

Michael Brecker

I miss your groundbreaking genius Music so much

Rest in Peace

[jazzuffe]

Thanks!! Wonderful.

[ehidop]

1966 or 1996???

[kindofblue68]

Uuummm,,, '96.... He had alot more hair in '66 dude.

[GMD825]

How inspiring is that !! Guy Mann

[RoGuExXxAsSaSiN]

After 5 years of playing guitar I saw Michael and changed to saxophone...haven't looked back since.

[Pedjazz]

The greatest sax player ever. Legend!

RIP Michael Brecker

[IpkisStanley]

0:44 he's giving ME the horn!

[JimmyJames902]

Greatest Tenor Sax Player since John Coltrane...

Brecker Bros and Steps Ahead were magical fusion bands -- saw them again and again at 7th Ave South and the Bottom Line...

We are all blessed to have had Michael in our musical lives...

[youbiedoobiedoo]

You were a lucky person Jimmy! Wish i were there too!!

[tackyacky]

Gentle giant... play for us in the great Beyond, Michael!!

[youbiedoobiedoo]

I studied with Gary Campbell when he was at the University of Miami. Man...Gary was totally like that...would sneer (not quite the correct word) at us if we would write anything out. In fact, no one would EVER attempt it. They would either just succeed or fail when he would ask you to play something. You were totally on the spot (sort of like playing on the bandstand) -- but in a jury, for instance. But one would NEVER write anything out. That was an anathema, for sure!

[earthchild100]

wow rest in peace

a god of music

[PurpleHazeNr10]

I'm a guitar player, but this guy is one of my biggest inspirations in music!

[Modes9]

I totally agree. His influence is felt far beyond soprano and tenor sax players...

[Guitarsoundfreak]

immortal

[GP4T]

My sadness about his passing is slowly going away.MB's music has been a constant for mesince I was a kid.I can barely listen to Pilgrimage........breaks my heart everytime.

[neomodernbill]

The world is a very different place without this man in it. What a huge loss...........I'm still crushed about his passing.

[gamwizrd1]

you can tell the way he struggles to word things so carefully... the music in his head is beyond explanation through talking. he could explain much better by just showing, but then we would be so lost as to whats going on that it wouldn't help us lol. just a completely different level

[cleanjeansss]

RIP Michael...

[NOCOPYSARAH]

time traveler

[Johnjy2]

inspirational 2.49 minutes

[asbte]

oh i don't listen to bird.

[edcerc]

huh are you serious or am i missing something?

[asbte]

just interesting to me how he wont say he listens to bird. i guess he has not charlie parker cds.

[allegedartistlessons]

Great video. Hey everyone, Gary Campbell wrote a book called triad pairs that has completely changed my playing. I recommend it to everyone!

[bookingtime]

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

[Simbai69]

Thanks Jazz Video Guy! You did a great thing.

[theonlyismail]

1966 ???

[900w9e809]

Nice video from a great musician. Sorry to see him go so young.

[knowthisonce]

"Hardy black Music" learn jazz history and you'll know why a great modern jazz musician Michael Brecker said what he said. Even swing giant Benny Goodman borrowed from Joe fletcherson. He's even quoted saying somthing similar about rhythm. A lot of great white jazz musicians of old got their first taste of jazz when they as teenagers went across the train tracks into black jazz clubs... Watch the ken burns documentary.That's not to take away from all contributions white folks have accomplished.

[Dietzhorn]

"Even swing giant Benny Goodman borrowed from Joe fletcherson."

......Huh? Did you mean to say Fletcher Henderson? Or perhaps Joe Henderson....who came along about 30 years after the peak of Benny's career.

[greg5566]

This interview made me very happy. All I do is pick a song and try to play it in every key, and it makes my brain explode after about an hour. It's nice to hear Michael Becker still practices the same thing!

[ewi4000]

Practices? Practiced I'm afraid.

[PraxisScream]

What a great album Tales from...is. Amazing line-up.

[elguapo91]

I've heard that near the end of his life, Coltrane practiced literally all day, and would develop certain techniques earlier in the day, and would have abandoned them by the end of the day.

[sonnystitt123]

I also felt that i shirked my responsibility when missing a day or two of not practicing. Makes me glad to see I'm not the only one. Great masters like him know the value the practice and knew practicing showed morality in a musician.

[elimenohpee182]

Best saxophonist of our generation.

[Pedjazz]

One and only master

Michael you will be deeply missed, rest in peace.

[JRKSAX]

Wow he really was one of us! Just strugglin ta keep swingin.. RIP Michael!

[saxocopter]

Proof of what I've always told my students... Even musical geniuses have to practice! Thanks for the tips, Mike, and rest in peace.

[gsaxita]

musical geniuses are like this because they study 10 hour every day ,,,

[saxocopter]

You're right. Charlie Parker and John Coltrane each practiced an average of 12-15 hours a day, which raises a question I'd pondered when I wrote a psychology paper on musical geniuses while in college; do they practice excessively because they are geniuses, or are they geniuses because they practice excessively and are able to learn more than someone who would practice only 2-3 hours a day? Think about that one.

[baantalingngam]

Parker didn't practice 12 hours a day, man.He woodshedded one summer in the late 1930's. He also drank an enormous amount and took shitloads of drugs. Ok, Coltrane was obsessive about practice, right up until he died. The information goes in faster for "geniuses". But there's always hard work involved.

[saxocopter]

You missed the point; my point is that EVERYONE has to practice regardless of ability, and hard work is always a factor. Another genius, Albert Einstein once said "Genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration." So hard work is always a factor, and those who practice hours on in are putting in the work. In an interview he gave to jazz critic Leonard Feather, Parker claimed he practiced about 12 hours a day.

[baantalingngam]

The interview was with Paul Desmond and Parker said that he USED to practice 11 to 15 hours a day,over a period of 3 to 4 years. In other words, when he was a kid.Your comment implied that Parker kept on practicing that amount when he was a professional musician and famous, and from the extensive reading I've done relating to his life, I doubt that very much. Of course Coltrane did maintain that kind of obsessive practice regime even after he became famous.

[saxocopter]

You're still missing the point; I didn't say WHEN he practiced 12-15 hours a day because it didn't matter; what matters is that he DID it, period. In fact, many music geniuses such as Mozart begin to show their extraordinary abilities as children, and as they age their abilities only become better.

[BraeTheTrumpeter]

show me a text where it says that coltrane or parker practiced 12hrs a day? i know they practiced lots but the physical effort of playing for that long is insane. I play trumpet and there is literally no trumpet player that could play for 12hrs a day. I mean you could get up to that standard if you increased your regime by 15mins a day but even then. Besides as it was made so clear by Brecker in that interview he practices and he plays

[BraeTheTrumpeter]

... I think it's more reasonable to say that Coltrane, Parker played for 12hrs a day. Parker would've been too high as well, and he studied lots. Going to the library and picking out scores of modern classical composers to take lines from and see what exactly was going on...

[saxocopter]

You're right, it would be impossible for a trumpet player to practice that long, but playing brass instruments requires more muscle use than woodwinds, so you would experience muscle fatigue faster than a reed player. Coltrane was OCD and after quitting drugs began to practice obsessively, probably as a way of replacing the drug craving with something more constructive. In Miles Davis' autobiography, Miles said that Trane seemed more obsessed with music than with women even when he was single.

[saxocopter]

One biography I'd read while researching the term paper was "John Coltrane" by Bill Cole, which is an older book but I think is still in print. I can't tell you the exact pages since I don't have the book in front of me, but it's there. Coltrane was OCD and after quitting drugs turned to practice as a subsitute. My source for Parker was an interview with Logan Walker, a kansas city native and saxophonist now living in Oklahoma. He knew Parker as a teenager and used to hang out and play with him.

[JazzyBlues804]

That is because chops for woodwind players are MUCH better than that of a brass player. It isn't as tiring. .....and yes, it is possible!

[BraeTheTrumpeter]

I'm not saying it's impossible... it's just improbable. Practicing 12 hrs a day means that Coltrane would've been playing up to 15hrs in a normal day and considering we need 10hrs sleep to function normally (add in his habit, nodding off etc.

[BraeTheTrumpeter]

) and it's not likely... I think he may have PLAYED 10 hrs a day... practiced I'm not so sure. And how are woodwind chops better? They're different... Herbert Clarke did 5 hrs PRACTICE a day (without playing gigs) and that's stamina. You just need enough chops to play two, two hour gigs a night and you're fine.

[mambojazz1]

YOU'RE still mistaken. We don't need 10 hours sleep. Where did you pickup that information? Average is 6-9 hours. But in actually when you understand sleep cycles w e don't even 5 hours. Eistein used to sleep 4 hours a day.

[BraeTheTrumpeter]

I think you'll find I'm not. Post-puberty we need a minimum of 6hrs and maximum of 10hrs sleep per day. I'm not going to be lectured by someone who can't spell 'Einstein' nor construct a sentence correctly. The point I'm trying to get across is that if they practiced (not played) for 10hrs a day, 7 days a week, from the year they took study seriously, they would be burnt out. As for Einstein, are you suggesting that you have or know someone who has physically witnessed this?

[mambojazz1]

It's called a typo~lol. Again what everone is saying is correct. I'm a clarinet player sax and harmonica as well. I also happen to play trumpet at least enough to sub for someone and make some extra bread though I would call myself a trumpet player. Fact is when I studied Clarinet at Juilliard as a youth I DID practice 10-15 hours a day myself since I didn't have responsibilities. All Coltrane had to do was practice, play club dates, and record. There's more to life than that but so what?

[NoirMusic]

Well Coltrane also had this whole heroin addiction for quite a while so that takes...oh many days a week to deal with. As far as sleep...man that trumpeter is crazy. I've never slept more then 8hrs a day and usually more like 5-6. As we age our need for sleep decreases, teen often sleep 10hr, by the time we are 80 the AVERAGE is 4-5...

[saxocopter]

Which is one of the theories I was suggesting in my term paper.

[supahsekzy]

@JRKSAX Yeah man, I love seeing the human side of people with godly talents. Brecker for the win.

[cliffbnelson]

@JRKSAX  I was lucky enough to be a student of Mike's for a limited time early in my career (late 80s) and he was really a slave to the horn, more than you may have ever imagined. I have never seen a more humble and tortured virtuoso. I miss him terribly and wish more had rubbed off.

[77syzygy]

@cliffbnelson Wow, I'm impressed! Lessons with one of the top 10 tenor sax legends of all times! Reminds me when I met Frank Zappa & talked to him for 20 minutes, as well as meeting Miles Davis (very little conversation), Elvin Jones, Canonball Aderly, Dave Liebman, Chick Corea, Dennis Chambers, David Binney, Donny McCaslin, Antonio Sanchez, Pat Martino, Mike Stern, to name a few.

[Modes9]

@cliffbnelson I'm not sure it's healthy to look at it as torture. I love to work on ideas from the Nicolas Slonimsky Thesaurus of Scales and transpose them to other keys because it's fun and those things sound great. Some people like crossword puzzles or rubics cubes. I like that...and obviously Michael Brecker liked that kind of musical study and analysis more than just about anybody.

[cliffbnelson]

@Modes9 most definitely, I refer to the torture as a love/hate relationship...that joy and frustration that comes from pushing yourself further with each new combination, not so much a negative connotation as a true love of the art. For me, he embodies that love more than anyone I have ever seen.

[monsieurprolong]

Word.

[remmurds]

RIP.

[andrewthebassist]

It's really nice to hear a monster player like Micheal say how he goes through periods where he only practices enough to get by. Maybe there's hope for me after all.

[3shiftgtr]

How many tenor players does it take to screw in a lightbulb? 25: 1 to screw it in and the other 24 to argue about how Brecker woulda done it! We miss U Mike!

[jazztenorsaxdude]

Its cool to here him saying that he is slow at getting ideas down in all 12 keys. It reminds you that these guys aren't robotic like they appear to be on stage.

[shenzo2000]

'some skunk funk' (live version), the solo with the autowah is still my fav sax solo of all time. rest in peace mike

[Mathildo]

thanks for putting that in...

[SnapshotsMusic]

Such a special musician- missed by all.

[jangojazz]

humble giant ! not so many white cats got it like him

[booeytre]

Jangojazz: Can you explain please - what does it have to do with skin colour?

[gsaxita]

bullshit "!"""""!!!!! gerry mulligan !!! paol desmond benny goodman ,

is true ony : if you born under the sun you are more musicaly .......... ( has south italian ) .. but way finnisch jazz play or swedom jazz play are better then other ?

[gsaxita]

answer to jangojazz

[ihasmario]

"blacks got the rhythm better" is pretty stupid. These days there are great jazz musicians both black and white, and there have been for a long time. It's hardly "black music". I wish the interview was longer though, I really need help with my practice technique.

[SolSorrell]

Brecker was a very down-to-earth person. You can tell by the humility of his spoken word. Almost looked like he was a little nervous doing the interview. There are so many hot-shot horn players out there who think they are all that, but Brecker was and will always be ALL THAT! You don't have to be arrogant to be great.

[alwiap15]

nice video, the beginning says 1966 instead of 1996 tho ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^

[Dazzer1234567]

not necassary to play something in every key - if you can play it in only one key, but communicate something to people, express an emotion that touches people, that's enough (IMHO)

[daddyphatsack]

If you can't play it in every key you run the risk of not being able to play something you hear because it's not under your fingers. (and you run the risk of not being able to communicate anything if someone calls it in another key.)

[lazur1]

Inspiring.

[CrackHo2]

Rest in peace, Mikey.

[CooolJazzz]

"...in every key..."

"...in every key..."

"...in every key..."

If there's one single piece of advice aspiring horn players should take to heart from these interviews...it's to learn it and practice it "in every key". It doesn't matter what the tune or the exercise is. Until you can play it in every key you haven't truly learned it.

[stereoagentr826]

I absolutely agree, for all instrumentalists

[pniiice]

amen.

[daigle65]

it's amaising to see how humble he is, he just worked at it like must sax players.I may not be his biggest fan but i admit he was truely one of the giants of our time.Goodbye Mr.Brecker.

[spntneous]

thanks