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MICHAEL BRECKER | Pilgrimage
TRACK LISTING
The Mean Time
Five Months from Midnight
Anagram
Tumbleweed
When Can I Kiss You Again?
Cardinal Rule
Half Moon Lane
Loose Threads
Pilgrimage
Next to John Coltrane, Michael Brecker - a 13-time GRAMMY winner in a career that spans more than three decades - is unquestionably the most influential tenor player in the history of jazz. As a result of his stylistic and harmonic innovations, he is the most studied contemporary jazz musician in music schools throughout the world today. Sadly, after a two-and-a-half-year battle with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and leukemia, Brecker passed away on January 13, 2007.
While in the midst of his debilitating illness, however, Brecker persevered. His work in the studio at the time of his death includes some of the finest music he has ever recorded. Pilgrimage features the all-star lineup of pianists Herbie Hancock and Brad Mehldau, guitarist Pat Metheny, drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist John Patitucci.
Pilgrimage, chronicles Brecker's final journey - one in which the music itself served as a sustaining force. Those present in the studio recall moments when the rigors of recording were so physically taxing - nearly to the point of collapse - for the leader whose health was compromised. In the end, it was Brecker's sheer will, and a dedication to completing the recording, that pushed him, his colleagues and the project as a whole across the finish line.
While the artist himself may be gone, the passion of life burns in the recording that survives him. "Mike just left us some of the greatest music of his career - and of his life," says Metheny. "Mike's efforts to get his final message out to all of us - which is really what it is, a message - will go down as one of the great codas in modern music history. What happened in the studio during those few days in August is impossible to describe. It's one of the most amazing, powerful, unbelievable things that I - and all who were there - have ever experienced or will ever see."
And yet, for all of the extraordinary moments that gave birth to Pilgrimage, this recording almost didn't happen. "There was the only the briefest of intervals in which this recording was possible, and in the end, Mike created the possibility," says Darryl Pitt, Brecker's longtime friend and manager. "We didn't know until the first day of rehearsal whether Mike would feel up to the task that lay before him - and we never knew what tomorrow would bring. Almost immediately following the sessions, Mike again became quite ill."
As is often the case, the adversity working against the creator only makes the creation that much stronger and richer - and all the more sublime. Every one of the nine tracks composed by Brecker on Pilgrimage is a portrait of an artist at the peak of his creative powers. The album is the first in Brecker's stellar discography which consists solely of his original compositions. Each tune is compelling in this 75-minute set, and there are moments within each that are absolutely transcendent.
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