Shut Up and Listen - Tales from the Hudson, Michael Brecker

Tales from the Hudson, 1997

Shut Up and Listen

This series is a tribute to the music, the musicians I love, and my father. The most common phrase we heard from him throughout our lives was, “Shut up and listen.” He said (or, more commonly, yelled) this, with the greatest of love, at his children and grandchildren to teach them to see and hear the world's beauty and appreciate great art and music. I will try to keep that legacy for the next generations.

You Should Be Listening to Tales from the Hudson, by Micheal Brecker

“Tales from the Hudson,” recorded in 1996, stands out in Michael Brecker’s discography. The album showcases Brecker’s virtuosic saxophone work and gathers some of the most influential jazz musicians of the time. This star-studded lineup, filled with my all-time favorite musicians, is one of the album’s features that sets it apart.

• Michael Brecker on tenor saxophone

• Pat Metheny on guitar; also guitar synthesizer on track 3

• Jack DeJohnette on drums

• Dave Holland on bass

• Joey Calderazzo on piano (tracks 1, 2, 4, and 6-9)

• McCoy Tyner on piano (tracks 3, 5)

• Don Alias on percussion (tracks 3, 5)

Brecker’s fusion of modern jazz and post-bop styles is evident throughout the album. His remarkable ability to balance technical proficiency with emotional depth truly sets him apart. Even in the most technical areas of his playing or solos, you can close your eyes and feel the raw emotion he's pouring into his music. His immense technical skills never overpower the emotional message he shares, creating a deep connection with the listeners.

Notable Tracks:

• “Song for Bilbao” – A Pat Metheny composition featuring an energetic interplay between Metheny and Brecker. The song originally appeared on Metheny’s 1982 live album *Travels* with the Pat Metheny Group. The piece is an homage to the city of **Bilbao, Spain**, capturing the vibrant, lively energy Metheny felt while visiting the Basque region. The song features Metheny’s signature blending of jazz, folk, and world music influences, driven by a catchy, upbeat melody. It has since become a staple in Metheny’s live performances and has been covered by many artists, including Michael Brecker, on this album. This song is an excellent showcase of Metheny's composition and his ability to capture the essence of a place or a feeling through his beautiful and complex melodies.

• “African Skies” is a Brecker original, characterized by rhythmic complexity and modal exploration. In interviews, Brecker noted that its rhythmic complexity was driven by his long-standing fascination with African rhythms and polyrhythms. The intricate time signatures and cross-rhythms were designed to reflect African music's energy and layered nature. Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland’s contributions were crucial in bringing that rhythmic complexity to life. Brecker once said that DeJohnette was “the perfect drummer” for these rhythmic experiments.

• “Midnight Voyage” is another Brecker composition known for its lyrical melody and the harmonic richness of the improvisations.

• “Cabin Fever” – Brecker’s soloing here is upbeat, jagged, complex, technical, fast, melodically complex, and yet still “easy” for almost anyone to listen to. It is both challenging and somehow accessible. This performance won him the Grammy for Best Improvised Jazz Solo in 1997. Reflecting on the Grammy win in interviews, he humbly remarked that he didn’t expect the track to receive so much attention and that it was a product of being “in the right creative space” with such inspiring musicians. The other players pull off impressive solos as well. Brecker mentioned that the piece started as a simple idea he’d been toying with but evolved into a highly intricate, intense solo during the recording session.

Brecker also won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album in 1997 for “Tales From the Hudson.” It remains a landmark recording, solidifying Brecker’s place among the great jazz saxophonists. Its balance of innovation and accessibility is an excellent example of my earlier point that his exceptional technical skills never overpower the emotion in his playing or the ability for anyone to enjoy listening.

Mutual Respect

One of the endless things I love about jazz is that the musicians play and record in an atmosphere of mutual respect. You have to listen to and respond to each other to be great. The most important instruments the great ones have are their ears. Michael Brecker was known for surrounding himself with musicians he greatly respected, and Tales from the Hudson is no exception. In interviews, Brecker expressed admiration for his collaborators, especially Pat Metheny, McCoy Tyner, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette, calling them "musicians with their own highly developed voices." Their presence on the album allowed Brecker to push his compositions in directions that challenged and inspired him. Brecker once said in an interview that he felt he was playing “above his head” when working with musicians of this caliber, referring to how they elevated the entire session with their contributions.

Having McCoy Tyner, a legendary pianist and critical figure in John Coltrane’s classic quartet, was an especially meaningful experience for Brecker. He admired Tyner since his early days as a musician and felt that Tyner brought a sense of history and depth to the project. Tyner plays on two tracks, and Brecker once shared that having Tyner in the studio felt like a full-circle moment in his career, considering Tyner’s deep connection to the post-bop tradition that had inspired Brecker’s playing from the beginning.

Pat Metheny’s presence on Tales from the Hudson was a significant aspect of the album’s sound. Metheny had already collaborated with Brecker several times; one of my all-time favorite recordings is Pat Metheny’s 80/81 which included Brecker. The guitarist’s compositions and playing on this album deepened their creative rapport. In later interviews, Metheny mentioned that working with Brecker on this project was always thrilling because Brecker brought an extraordinary balance of precision and passion to his playing, pushing the boundaries of what could be done with the saxophone in a modern jazz context.

He Passed Away Too Soon

Michael Brecker passed away on January 13, 2007, at the age of 57, due to complications from myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a rare blood disorder. He was diagnosed in 2005, and despite undergoing a worldwide search for a bone marrow donor and several experimental treatments, he was unable to recover. His death was a profound loss to the jazz community, as Brecker was one of the most influential saxophonists of his time. In his final years, he continued to record, releasing his last album, *Pilgrimage*, posthumously.

So Many Recordings - So Much Wonderful Music

Brecker was the leader or co-leader on over 24 albums and has played on well over 180 other albums as a sideman or studio musician. There is so much of his music to be listened to that you could spend a lifetime learning from him.

I suggest starting right here. Put your headphones on or your earbuds in then just Shut Up, and Listen.