Two different generations of music will take the stage this
Sunday night at Royce Hall when multi-Grammy-award winner and
saxophonist Michael Brecker will be sharing the bill with
trumpet/flugelhorn player Roy Hargrove.
The concert should be a mixture of music influenced by the past
and future. The Michael Brecker Quintet, which will be performing
songs from Brecker’s career, plays a concert with the Roy
Hargrove Quintet led by the man who is famous for his ability to
blur the boundaries between jazz and other popular genres of music
like hip-hop and R&B.
Brecker, who is on tour on the West coast for a week, is playing
opposite Hargrove in only two shows. But as they have been playing
together for the past year and a half, Brecker is certain that the
concert will be a success.
“I love playing with Roy. We have an interesting and great
chemistry,” Brecker said.
Brecker’s quintet will include Joey Calderazzo on piano,
adding a new instrument to the ensemble of a saxophone, drums,
guitar and bass.
Brecker’s performance will not so much showcase his newer
work as it will display various stages of his musical past.
“There’s a piano and a guitar. It’s a
combination I used to use, and I’m coming back to it,”
Brecker said. “I wanted the extra color.”
His new album, “Wide Angles,” was released this past
month. The album’s compositions were written for 15 players,
a large number for an ensemble by jazz standards. And for this
reason, Brecker’s newest works cannot dominate the concert
repertoire. However, he does hope to rearrange one of the pieces
off of his new album for his quintet.
Hargrove’s new album “Hard Groove” was proof
of his talent at expanding jazz music to incorporate other genres.
Compositions on the CD featured R&B artist Erykah Badu, and MCs
Q-Tip and Common.
The concert will feature some of Brecker’s own original
compositions, but as much as jazz comes from improvisation, it is
impossible for a set line-up to be made prior to the night of the
concert. This spontaneous attitude toward concert repertoire keeps
the music fresh and unique to each show. And Brecker’s words
exude this relaxed frame of mind in regard to his performance.
“I’m really not sure (what pieces we’ll
play),” Brecker said. “Jazz is really one of the only
forms of music that creates itself every night ““ every night,
it’s different.”