Return of the Brecker Brothers

****
A welcome return, but not quite a return to form 1 Feb 2008

The 1970s were a nervy time for jazz: Miles was making electric albums with rude words in the title, Weather Report were producing strange aural soundscapes, and up in New York a bunch of young men with terrifying techniques and amplifiers were scaring the living daylights out of anyone who happened to cross their paths. They were the Brecker Brothers, formed by the brothers Randy (on trumpet) and his tenor-playing brother Michael. Their music was fast, funky and great fun, and perhaps best described by the title of their live album "Heavy-Metal Bebop". But, as is the nature of these things, the group disbanded in the early '80s, and the two men went their separate ways. Both made tons of money playing as session men on other people's albums (and produced some excellent music), and Michael recorded a series of excellent solo albums that were much closer to what one might call "jazz" than the Brecker Brothers material.

But, as is the nature of these things, a record company had the bright idea that, in 1992, the Brecker Brothers might re-form, and get some albums together, and this, The Return of the Brecker Brothers, was the result. And far from mimicking the headlong blowing madness of the seventies, this is a much more urbane affair, drawing together everything from African sounds to abstract funk influences. The opening number - Song for Barry - is a highlight in terms of the originality of the material, and Above and Below demonstrates a much more jazz-led approach to the work, with some great synth playing. Spherical is an exciting tune, and Michael's muscular, light-speed tenor is demonstrated to the full.

Having said that, there are some really dire numbers which go little further than providing a hip-hop loop for the brothers to blow over (King of the Lobby is awful, and Randy's comic vocal on That's All There Is To It does no-one any favours).

So this isn't a classic album, treading as it does a slightly unsteady path between lift-music and great arrangements, but it does provide some very enjoyable music. If you want my advice, get their follow-up album Out of the Loop, or, even better, go for the really early 70s stuff like East River, which has aged much better than this.