Brecker

Randy Brecker earned his first Grammy award as a solo artist for his album release “Into the Sun” (1997). Subsequent album releases “34th N Lex” (2003), “Randy Brecker Live with the WDR Big Band” (2007), “Randy in Brazil”(2008) and “Night in Calisia” (2012) all yielded additional Grammy honors.

“When I was young my expectation was just to move to New York and be a freelance trumpet player,” recalls Brecker. “That’s really what I did for 20 years. I was sucked into the music scene in New York pretty quickly. There was a lot of studio work. I had no idea the bulk of my work would be doing sessions and writing sessions and playing on other people’s records. Eventually I got tired of doing stuff for other people and wanted my own home base and started

writing my own music and try to form my own conception which was far more successful than I ever imagined in my wildest dreams partially because we had a hit single in 1975 called “Sneakin’ Up Behind You.” That also pushed our performing career along with a studio ca-

reer. When I look back on it, it seems like it’s somebody else’s life.”

“I wish I had more of an ego,” adds Brecker. “The trumpet will keep you humble. It’s a difficult instrument and some days it works and some days it doesn’t. You just have to put the time in.

It certainly doesn’t get easier as you get older. It just keeps you humble. You got

your good days and bad days. Sometimes you win. Sometimes the trumpet wins. It

goes back and forth your whole life and then you die and the trumpet wins.”