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You are here: Home / Archives for Michael Brecker

Michael Brecker

Insane Michael Brecker Invitation Tenor Sax Solo Transcription from the Jaco Birthday Concert

December 15, 2022 by Steve 8 Comments

Here’s another great Michael Brecker tenor saxophone solo transcription I am excited to share with everyone. This is a transcription of Michael Brecker’s insane tenor sax solo on the jazz standard, “Invitation” from the Jaco Pastorius’ album “The Birthday Concert” (this is not the Invitation solo from Jack Wilkins album “Merge”).  The Jaco Pastorius “Birthday […]

Filed Under: Transcriptions Tagged With: Birthday Concert, Invitation, Jaco Pastorius, jazz sax, Michael Brecker, tenor saxophone, transcription

Will the Real Michael Brecker’s Sax Mouthpiece Please Stand Up?

February 2, 2022 by Steve 69 Comments

I wanted to write a blog post on this subject because there has been a lot of discussion and confusion over the years about the Guardala tenor saxophone mouthpiece that Michael Brecker played on.    I started a discussion on this subject on Facebook but thought it would be good to post what I discovered […]

Filed Under: Saxophone Stuff Tagged With: Guardala, Michael Brecker, saxophone mouthpiece, tenor sax

Michael Brecker Act Natural Tenor Sax Solo Transcription

January 26, 2021 by Steve 12 Comments

Here’s another great Michael Brecker tenor sax solo transcription I am excited to share with everyone. This transcription has been available out there on the internet for many years now, so I have never posted my transcription here on my site, but I kind of wanted to now for sentimental reasons. This transcription includes the […]

Filed Under: Transcriptions Tagged With: Act Natural, Don Grolnick, Hearts and Numbers, jazz sax, Michael Brecker, tenor saxophone, transcription

Michael Brecker Tenor Sax Solo Transcription-The Melody Still Lingers On (A Night in Tunisia)-Chaka Kahn

January 26, 2021 by Steve 7 Comments

About five years ago, I started working on a transcription of an incredible solo by Michael Brecker over “A Night in Tunisia” (Chaka Kahn calls it “The Melody Still Lingers On”). This is from a video on Youtube of Chaka Kahn performing a great version of this tune in 1981.  This is classic early eighties […]

Filed Under: Transcriptions Tagged With: Chaka Kahn, jazz sax, Magnus Bakken, Melody Lingers On, Michael Brecker, Night in Tunisia, tenor saxophone, transcription

Whoa!! Michael Brecker Performing on a Hard Rubber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece!!

June 5, 2020 by Steve 36 Comments

I wanted to share this interesting video I found on Facebook this morning that was shared by Louis Gerrits who runs the website michaelbreckerliverecordings.com which is a website dedicated to the great tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker who passed away in 2007. *Louis was also kind enough to share the Michael Brecker photos in this article […]

Filed Under: Jazz Videos, Saxophone Stuff Tagged With: Guardala, hard rubber, Michael Brecker, otto link, saxophone mouthpiece, slant signature, tenor sax

Michael Brecker New York Minute Tenor Saxophone Solo Transcription

June 3, 2020 by Steve 1 Comment

I have a treat for all of you!  A couple of weeks ago,  I discovered a new sax player on Facebook who was posting killer transcriptions on Youtube. His name is Dimitrii Sergheev from Moldova.  Dimitrii caught my attention because we seem to have the exact same tastes in great tenor sax solos that need […]

Filed Under: Transcriptions Tagged With: Herbie Hancock, jazz sax, Michael Brecker, New Standard, New York Minute, solo, tenor saxophone, transcription

Michael Brecker Scarborough Fair Tenor Saxophone Solo Transcription

May 28, 2020 by Steve Leave a Comment

I have a treat for all of you!  A couple of weeks ago,  I discovered a new sax player on Facebook who was posting killer transcriptions on Youtube. His name is Dimitrii Sergheev from Moldova.  Dimitrii caught my attention because we seem to have the exact same tastes in great tenor sax solos that need […]

Filed Under: Transcriptions Tagged With: Herbie Hancock, jazz sax, Michael Brecker, New Standard, Scarborough Fair, solo, tenor saxophone, transcription

Saxscape Downtown MB1 Slim Profile Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review

December 28, 2019 by Steve 11 Comments

Today, I am reviewing a Saxscape Downtown MB1 8* (.115) slim profile tenor saxophone mouthpiece that Ken Barry at Saxscape mouthpieces recently sent me to try out and perhaps review.  Earlier this year, I reviewed a Saxscape Live model tenor sax mouthpiece as well as a Saxscape Fat Cat model tenor saxophone mouthpiece that I […]

Filed Under: Mouthpiece Reviews, Tenor High Baffle Reviews, Tenor Mouthpiece Reviews Tagged With: downtown, Ken Barry, MB1, Michael Brecker, mouthpiece, review, sax, Saxscape, slim profile, tenor saxophone

Video Tour of The Michael Brecker Archive at William Paterson University

June 24, 2019 by Steve Leave a Comment

Louis Gerrits creator of the site michaelbreckerliverecordings.com posted a link to a video tour of the Living Jazz Archives at William Paterson University which includes the Michael Brecker Archive on Facebook this morning.   I posted about this great archive in the past here: Michael Brecker Archive Article. The Michael Brecker part of the video tour […]

Filed Under: Jazz Videos Tagged With: archive, Dave Demsey, jazz sax, living jazz, Michael Brecker, tenor saxophone, video tour, William Paterson University

New! Michael Brecker’s Alternate Fingering Lessons Area

March 22, 2019 by Steve Leave a Comment

You might have noticed that I have been quiet here at neffmusic.com over the last few weeks.  The reason is that I started a new lesson series on my site for members focused on the alternate fingering licks of Michael Brecker.  I have been working diligently (my wife describes it more as obsessed…..) behind the […]

Filed Under: Learning at Neffmusic Tagged With: altered fingerings, false fingerings, lesson, Michael Brecker, overtones, saxophone, voicing

Michael Brecker International Saxophone Competition

February 7, 2019 by Steve 1 Comment

I was recently informed about this new competition by Brian Plautz and Susan Brecker and thought I would pass on the information here on the site.  If you are an aspiring saxophonist between the ages of 16-30, are a citizen of the world (no extraterrestrials) and can burn it up on the saxophone, then this […]

Filed Under: Jazz Education, Saxophone Stuff Tagged With: International, Michael Brecker, saxophone competition

Guardala Mouthpiece Informative Brochures From 1990

December 21, 2018 by Steve 10 Comments

A friend of mine on Facebook, Adrian Chia, posted  these pictures of hardcopy Guardala mouthpiece brochures that he received from Dave Guardala in the mail back in 1990.  Dave was living in Hicksville NY at the time and working out of his garage from what I have heard.  If only I had a time machine……………  […]

Filed Under: Saxophone Stuff Tagged With: 1990, Dave Guardala, informative brochures, Michael Brecker, sax mouthpiece

The Michael Brecker Archive at William Paterson University

October 15, 2018 by Steve 5 Comments

Dr. David Demsey at William Paterson University contacted me a few years ago to tell me about the “Living Jazz Archives” that the University was building and how they were adding a Michael Brecker Archive to the already existing archives that they already had.   The Living Jazz Archives are: A TEACHING TOOL for William Paterson University […]

Filed Under: Jazz Education Tagged With: archive, David Demsey, Improvisation, jazz sax, Michael Brecker, tenor saxophone, William Paterson University

The Art of Imitation-Michael Brecker on Peep

October 11, 2018 by Steve 14 Comments

Someone on SOTW (Sax on the Web) posted a video this morning of Michael Brecker soloing over his tune Peep from the early 90’s. Peep was a Brecker tune from the album “Now You See It… (Now You Don’t) that blew my mind when it was released in 1990.   I was a young Brecker head […]

Filed Under: Saxophone Stuff Tagged With: imitation, Improvisation, jazz sax, Michael Brecker, Peep, tenor saxophone

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I’ve been having ‘ online’  lessons with Steve for a few months now. Being a teacher myself I had had some reservations with the idea at first and the practicalities of it .  Let me just say that my playing has taken a huge leaps forward while studying with Steve and continues to do so.Steve studied with some renowned player/teachers such as Bergonzi and Garzone– this in itself is invaluable but Steve teaches from his own books, which cover a a vast amount of  jazz language. Steve h… Read more
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Just a brief note to compliment you on your teaching skills and in particular for the honesty of your lessons.  I am a returning alto sax player in my 50’s and I was looking for a no nonsense, straight to the point kind of guidance. I had intended to email you with a few questions regarding the use of the bis key but then I noticed that there was a lesson on that specific topic and after viewing it,  all my questions were answered. I once took a group lesson with a well known professional sax … Read more
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Hi Steve, I can’t express just how much I appreciate your teaching. My playing has improved so much over the past year since I have been studying and practicing with your lessons. It is possible to teach an old dog new tricks, these lessons are proof! Thanks, Michael Byington
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I just wanted to write a thank you note to you for this website. I play and teach saxophone, but I have always been intimidated by the gear aspect. Your website has helped me become a lot more knowledgable. Your knowledge is staggering! I’m telling all my students about your website. Pierre
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