Randy Brecker
b. 27 November 1945, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Brecker studied classical trumpet at school, meanwhile playing in local R&B bands. He turned to jazz when at Indiana University and was a member of a student band which visited Europe. He quit the band and the university, remaining in Europe for a while before returning to the USA to take up a career in music. In 1967 he was with Blood, Sweat And Tears and thereafter played with various jazz groups including those led by Horace Silver, Art Blakey and Clark Terry. He also accompanied performers from the worlds of rock and pop, including Janis Joplin, Stevie Wonder and James Brown. In 1969 he became co-leader with his brother, Michael Brecker, of the band, Dreams. In the early '70s he worked in the studios, playing jazz gigs with Larry Coryell, Billy Cobham, Hal Galper and others. He also formed another band with his brother, this time simply named the Brecker Brothers, which made some enormously successful albums and became one of the most popular and musically skilled and influential jazz-rock bands. In the late '70s he played with Charles Mingus and in the early '80s Brecker led his own groups and also worked with his wife, Eliane Elias, and with various jazzmen including Lew Tabackin. An exceptionally talented musician with great technical facility and flair, Brecker has become one of the major figures in jazz-rock, lending fluency and inventiveness to this area of popular music.