Naima – 2002
Michael Brecker
Brecker’s unaccompanied masterpiece
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In 2002, tenor-saxophonist Michael Brecker toured with Herbie Hancock’s New Directions In Music, a quintet that also included trumpeter Roy Hargrove, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade.
Invariably, the highpoint of each concert was when Brecker played an unaccompanied version of John Coltrane’s “Naima.”
A masterful technician with his own sound (influenced early on by Coltrane and Joe Henderson), Brecker was heard in many different settings in his career, always amazing his fellow musicians and listeners.
Michael Brecker came up with a different way to play “Naima” in each concert, getting quite adventurous while never losing sight of its spiritual melody.
-Scott Yanow
Ella Fitzgerald