Album Reviews

Clearly, releasing this as a double 180g vinyl set  was an act of musical idealism and not because someone at Mobile Fidelity thought vinyl fans and audiophiles were clamoring for it.

Pilgrimage is tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker’s final recording, issued after his untimely passing in 2007 at the age of 57 from myelodysplastic syndrome—a rare form of Leukemia.

Clearly, releasing this as a double 180g vinyl set  was an act of musical idealism and not because someone at Mobile Fidelity thought vinyl fans and audiophiles were clamoring for it.

Pilgrimage is tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker’s final recording, issued after his untimely passing in 2007 at the age of 57 from myelodysplastic syndrome—a rare form of Leukemia.

The back story is both tragic and inspiring. Listening to this set recorded in August of 2006 you’d never know Brecker was gravely ill. Supported by an all-star ensemble of Pat Metheny, John Patitucci and Jack DeJohnette, with Herbie Hancock and Brad Mehldau each playing on five of the album’s ten tracks, Brecker’s performances on this set of hid originals are muscular, assured and inspired throughout.

Obviously, when talents (and friends) like that play on what everyone knows will be the leader’s final recorded performances, the vibe is electric. Everyone’s playing is equally vibrant and intense.

The recording at NYC’s Right Track by the always excellent Joe Ferla is a great example of 1980’s state of the art studio sound. There’s no attempt to produce a credible picture of a group playing live in a space because every instruments sounds well isolated, later connected together with reverb—not that there’s anything wrong with that!

As for the music, well there’s a main issue. If you’re a fan of reductions of what Miles invented in 1969, if you’re a fan of Weather Report and what was considered to be “modern jazz” circa the 1980s, well this is a compelling example of that. But if you find that style mathematical, unemotional and distancing, this will do nothing to dispel those impressions. All of the signature genre cliche´s are there from the melodic ascensions and stop/start gestures to the sound of the electric piano.

Still, as an example of the style, and somewhat dated as it sounds today, you can’t beat this record. It exemplifies 1980s “modern jazz” or as some would call the jazz of the era, “fusion.