Vocal Jazz CD of the Month - "Karina Corradini: Bridge To Infinity"

Vocal Jazz CD of the Month
Karina Corradini: "Bridge to Infinity - Tribute to Zane Musa" (self-produced)
Rating: ****

‘Bridge To Infinity’ is the recording debut of Karina Corradini, a very talented and versatile singer who is equally skilled at straight ahead jazz, ballads, boleros and Latin American classics. Her beautiful tone, powerful voice, highly appealing jazz phrasing, ability to scat at even the fastest tempos, and warmth when caressing ballads make her one of the most promising singers on the jazz and Latin jazz scenes today.

Karina Corradini was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, one hour away from downtown Buenos Aires. As a child, Karina listened to her parents' tangos, and sister's Beatles before she discovered Brazilian music in her pre-teens. “I started to pay attention to what was called ‘Tropicalismo’ and was crazy for Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Djavan, and Gal Costa. A bit later, I discovered my all-time favorite, Elis Regina, and the bossa nova masters. In my teens, I was fully into Van Halen, Sade, Stevie Wonder, Aretha, and all the current  80's rock music. I integrated everything. Growing up in South America, I was exposed to a lot of different rhythms: tango, salsa, southamerican folklore, boleros, and the whole Northamerican spectrum of music that enriched my musical world. Through my parent's music, I also listened to Louis Armstrong and to Nat King Cole's latin album that really called my attention with his sweet American accent as he sang latino tunes. When I was 16 years old, I met a group of young musicians who introduced me to jazz through Pat Metheny, Paco de Lucia, John McLaughlin, and Al DiMeola.  Right there I started to realized  that music was a call for me. I was very much into the mystic music of Egberto Gismonti and Lyle Mays as well.  But then, after discovering  Ella Fitzgerald, I realized that that was the music I wanted to sing, and if I only could sing a little like Ella, my purpose in life would be totally fulfilled. So, I started to study voice lessons with Liana Lecuona, an opera singer from The Colón Theater ( Like La Scala of Buenos Aires)".

She began singing professionally when she was only 18 year old, leading her own jazz sextet, ‘Karina Corradini and the Summer Band,’ which performed at the beach, bars and restaurants during the summer. When the summer season ended, she sang on Corrientes Avenue in Buenos Aires, including a twice a week engagement for two years that often ended up as a jam session with veteran musicians. Karina worked at many venues (including the Teatro Coliseo, Jazz Club de la Plaza, the Thelonious Bar and Clasica y Moderna), and also twice toured Southern Brazil with her group. By the time she decided to move to the United States in 1999, she was among the busiest jazz singers in Buenos Aires. Even now, when she returns to Argentina each year to visit family, she is always welcomed to perform at major jazz clubs.

“I moved to Los Angeles to learn Ella Fitzgerald’s language, and to study music in the land of jazz.” Karina attended Rhiannon’s workshop three times, seminars by Sheila Jordan, Mark Murphy and Kevin Mahogany, and studied music at Los Angeles City College and art El Camino College. After performing with a rhythm and blues band for a year, she formed her own jazz group and has since performed at a countless number of clubs, restaurants, concerts and festivals, mostly in Southern California.

The story behind the release of ‘Bridge To Infinity’ includes a lot of highs and lows for the singer. The first high, no doubt, was “One of the first people who I mentioned my idea to was my dear friend Christian McBride. He not only got excited for me but also wanted to be part of the project!” The great bassist—who would become the album’s producer and main arranger—was not immediately available, so Karina recorded six songs on a demo with pianist Mahesh Balasooriya, bassist Rene Camacho and drummer Marvin “Smitty” Smith. She used the arrangements of Eric Bulling—who had been the writer for the Ella Fitzgerald album Ella Abraça Jobim. The results were so rewarding that those performances are also included on the CD.

When Corradini and McBride finally got together in the studio with tenor and alto saxophonist Zane Musa, trumpeter Nolan Shaheed, pianist Mahesh Balasooriya, drummer Marvin “Smitty” Smith, and percussionist Munyungo Jackson, the other nine songs were completed in just two days. “It felt like a big party and was fun all of the time. All of those musicians are incredibly talented. But just as important to me, all of them have warmth, are non-judgmental, have an open minded vibe, and have a great deal of humanity.”

The wide-ranging program includes swinging standards (“You Turned The Tables On Me,” “Until I Met You,” and “Lover Come Back To Me”), boleros (“What A Difference A Day Makes” and “Tu Mi Delirio”), a tribute to Elis Regina (through Baden Powell/Paulo Cesar Pinheiro's “Cai Dentro”), samba (Pedro Caetano's "É Com Esse Que Eu vou," Dorival Caymmi's "Doralice") and bossa-nova classics (Carlos Lyra/Vinicius de Moraes' “Você E Eu” and Marcos Valle/Paulo Sergio Valle's "Preciso Aprender A Ser Só"), and romantic ballads (“I Could Have Told You” and “If You Went Away”).

Karina had one of her mentors, pianist Howlett “Smitty” Smith, guest on his original “When The Time Is Right,” and guitarist Barry Zweig is on two numbers including the uptempo “I’m Gonna Lock My Heart And Throw Away The Key.” Throughout the set, Karina’s singing is both inventive and beautiful while Zane Musa’s contributions consistently uplift the music.

Unforeseen developments and tragedies resulted in the release of ‘Bridge To Infinity’ being stalled until now. Karina caught a serious fungus, Systemic Candidiasis, that resulted in her being ill for three years until, through research and the help of a nutritionist, she cured herself. In 2015, her close friend Zane Musa died in an accident. And Karina later fell down a flight of stairs in Argentina, breaking a wrist and suffering from chronic pain syndrome for a year. Fortunately she is now fully recovered and quite active on the music scene.

“After all of that, 2018 is finally my year. I cannot believe that the project is finished and now everyone can hear it. I hope listeners really enjoy it. It is dedicated to the genius of Zane Musa.” While Karina recorded a demo with the Tom Garvin Trio in 2001 (which made it possible for her to be hired for many jobs) and an unreleased CD in 2005 that included her good friend the late bassist Jorge Pasquali, ‘Bridge To Infinity’ is her first recording to be released to the general public. Finally listeners who live far beyond Southern California will get to appreciate her wonderful voice, musical talents and ability to make every song sound as if it was written for her.

Svetlana's album "Night At The Movies" debuts at #1 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Chart!

Svetlana's album Night at the Movies has debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Jazz Chart! We are over the moon for Svetlana and her band- this is an independent release so we're especially thrilled to see it do so well. This follows her sold out release show at Joe's Pub in NYC last week too!

Produced by Matt Pierson, with arrangements by Gil Goldstein and Rob Garcia, the album features Wycliffe Gordon, Sullivan Fortner, Matt Wilson, Pasquale Grasso, Rogerio Bocatto, Jon-Erik Kellso, Chico Pinheiro, Sam Sadigursky, Michael Davis, John Chin, Elias Bailey, Rob Garcia, Antoine Silverman, Entcho Todorov, Chris Cardona, and Emily Brausa.

Growing up in Soviet Russia as a young girl, singer Svetlana dreamed of a world beyond her grim reality. In the midst of Soviet oppression, Svetlana found solace at The Illusionist, a hidden movie theater in Moscow that frequently featured Western films and animated features. These movies were a breath of fresh air; a window into a world that a girl like her could only dream of. She was enraptured by the glamour of Catherine Deneuve in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Sophie Lauren in Marriage Italian Style, lifted by the humor of Louis de Funès in the Le Gendarme movies, and taken by the feeling of unbounded artistic expression and story-telling that was not answering to any political regime. 

Informed by her experiences at the cinema and her imagination and artistic spirit, she began dreaming of the world beyond Russia. Years later, Svetlana made that dream a reality when she immigrated to the United States, and settled in New York where she first became an accomplished business woman and professor before realizing her childhood artistic dreams. As a musician, Svetlana rose to prominence as an in-demand singer and entertainer. She launched Svetlana and the Delancey Five, considered “outstanding” by Will Friedwald of the Wall Street Journal, and the group became known as “one of the best of the many hot jazz bands to emerge in the past decade” (according to Alan Young of Lucid Culture). The group toured nationally and across the world and released their critically acclaimed debut recording A Night At The Speakeasy (Origin) in 2015.

On her new recording, Night at the Movies, Svetlana revisits her love for the artform that has inspired her so: the movies. Now, the singer known as the “Astrud Gilberto via Moscow” (Grammy-winning Producer Guy Ecksteine) released her sophomore effort. Night at the Movies is a fourteen-track collection of film music that spans a century of cinema. Produced by veteran, Grammy-nominated producer Matt Pierson and featuring arrangements by Grammy-winner Gil Goldstein and acclaimed Rob Garcia, Night at the Movies takes listeners on a dynamic musical journey that ranges from the French New Wave and Soviet Cinema, to modern day Academy Award-winners and animated classics. The album release concert will take place on September 21st at Joe’s Pub in New York City. A full tour with performances in Washington DC, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Georgia, California and more will be formally announced shortly.

For Night at the Movies’ rich orchestrations and invigorating arrangements, Pierson and Svetlana assembled a who’s-who of heavy contemporary jazz figures including Wycliffe Gordon (trombone /vocals), Sullivan Fortner (piano), Matt Wilson (drums), Pasquale Grasso (guitar), Rogerio Bocatto (percussion), Jon-Erik Kellso (trumpet), Chico Pinheiro (guitar), Sam Sadigursky (reeds), and Michael Davis (trombone). Rounding out the rhythm section is John Chin (piano), Elias Bailey (bass), and Rob Garcia (drums). Also featured is a string section with Antoine Silverman (violin), Entcho Todorov (violin), Chris Cardona (viola), and Emily Brausa (cello).

Every song on Night at the Movies tells a distinctive story. Svetlana reinvents Sting’s “In the Moonlight” (Sabrina, 1995), as a pillowy bossa bolstered by lush strings -  expressing hushed magic of the night, longing for a better future and fear of whether the magic lasts beyond the moonlight.  Svetlana bridges the century of movie music by jousting with Wycliffe Gordon’s croon and horn on two life-affirming tunes - a classic Ella / Louis rendition of “Cheek to Cheek” (Top Hat, 1934) and a bluesy version of ‪Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” (Despicable Me, 2010). The two express a jauntiness and warmth of interlocking vocal soloing that showcase the strong musical connection between the two friends.

Sullivan Fortner glistens eerily on “When You Wish Upon a Star” (Pinocchio, 1940) with a hushed anticipation that echoes his work with vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant for sheer rapture. Svetlana’s vocals sound vulnerable, much like when one speaks aloud of their far-fetched dreams.  “Remember Me” (Coco, 2018) juxtaposes Svetlana’s airy vocal delivery with John Chin’s fiery piano verve, hinting at the heartbreaking duality between the beautiful memories of those we love and the deep sadness of losing them.  Svetlana weaves a dreamy smoky bolero on “Pure Imaginationl (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, 1971), accented by Chin’s tranquil Rhodes, Roggerio Boccato percussion and a poignant horn section. 

Svetlana gives us a glimpse of her Russian “other-wordiness” (All About Jazz) by adding a subtle tropical flavor to a pensive Russian-language ballad “Noone’s In the House” (Irony of Fate, 1978 - and the Soviet counterpart to It’s A Wonderful Life with darker lyrics by the embattled Soviet poet and dreamer Boris Pasternak) complimented by Boccato’s enigmatic percussion and Pinheiro’s subtle groove.  Her meditative, expanded take of “Moon River” has a breathtaking dreaminess and vastness low-lit by Chico Pinheiro’s guitar and a hushed horn section.  Svetlana’s daughter Isabel joins her in a soothing conversation on the Charlie Chaplin classic “Smile” (Modern Times, 1936), which speaks to the timelessness of film and music that can cross generations and cultures.

There are several more unexpected takes on movie classics courtesy of Gil Goldstein’s arranger’s pen: a vulnerable “It Might Be You” (Tootsie, 1982); the New Orleans-inspired “Watch What Happens” (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, 1964) a dreamy-eyed enticement of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sooner or Later” (‪Dick Tracy, 1990) where Matt Wilson and Sullivan Fortner subtlety channel decades of torchy saloon balladry; and a dixieland rave-up of Randy Newman’s “Almost There” (Princess & The Frog, 2009) that is supported by hot jazz super-team Gordon, Fortner, and Jon-Erik Kellso.

The album concludes with “Over the Rainbow” (Wizard of Oz, 1939), a pensive duet with Sony recording artist Pasquale Grasso. The concluding song brings the album full circle as it connects Svetlana’s childhood hopes of making that magical land from the movies a reality.

Film and music both express a fleeting beauty. Night at the Movies reflects these moments of joy and passion, sharp humor and reflection, and most of all, fantasy. Svetlana’s childhood dreams were born from that mysterious movie projector and this is her love-letter back to the cinema that saved her.

The Randy Brecker Interview, Part 1

I've been a huge Randy Brecker fan for over 40 years, long before the Brecker Brothers days. Actually, since 1973, when I was deeply impressed by his solos on the "Donato/Deodato" album. At that time, although I was only 10 years old, I'd been exposed to some great trumpet heroes - Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Art Farmer and Freddie Hubbard were my favorites at that time and, not even in my wildest dreams, I could imagine I would meet all of them in person some years later.

But Randy, from the first bars of his solo on the track "Capricorn" from that "Donato/Deodato" album, sounded completely different and original in terms of phrasing and tone. He already had his own sound, his own "message." He already was a stylist. And then I began to purchase each and every record with his name on the credits - albums by Horace Silver, Duke Pearson, Gary McFarland, Mark Murphy, the debut album of Blood Sweat & Tears, and two very special records by a band that blew me away, Dreams!

43 years later, Randy, now aged 70 and a 5-time Grammy winner, is a true living legend, surely one of the best trumpeters not only in jazz history, but in the music history, because he has been an integral part of the evolution of pop, jazz, funk, r&b, rock, everything. An infallible player, Randy Brecker became one of the most-in-demand "studio cats" in the NY scene since the mid-70s, was a member of Larry Coryell & The Eleventh House, and founded The Brecker Brothers with the much missed Michael Brecker, the greatest tenor virtuoso that ever lived.

Randy has played and recorded with the most important names of all genres & styles. From James Brown to Frank Sinatra, from Average White Band to Lou Reed, from Steely Dan to Aerosmith, from Charles Mingus to Elton John, Jaco Pastorius, Luiz Bonfá, Chaka Khan, Tina Turner, Frank Zappa, Carly Simon, James Taylor, Esther Phillips, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Bette Midler, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, and arrangers like Oliver Nelson, Michel Legrand, Bob James, Don Sebesky, David Matthews and Claus Ogerman. The list goes on and on.

Yesterday, checking my collection, I counted 506 albums on which he plays on. But the famous Discogs website lists 1,053 titles! Plus over 100 sessions as leader, co-leader or featured artist. His "videography" is equally amazing, including LaserDiscs and DVDs as a leader as well as with the Brecker Brothers, the Gil Evans Orchestra, the Louie Bellson Big Band, some gala concerts coordinated by Roger Kellaway for the Jazzvisions series, special projects featuring Charles Mingus' music like "Epitaph" and a concert with the Metropole Orkestra, Frank Sinatra's "Portrait Of An Album" (the "LA Is My Lady" making-of produced by Quincy Jones), Chroma's "Music On The Edge" and, most recently, a Blu-ray with the CTI All Star Jazz Band.

Married to the fabulous sax player Ada Rovatti, the proud father of Stella (their 7-year old princess) and the very talented singer Amanda Elias Brecker (from his marriage with Brazilian pianist Eliane Elias), he currently keeps working as much as ever, recording many splendid albums such as "Night In Calisia," "Dearborn Station," "The Jazz Ballad Song Book," "Randy Pop!", and touring a lot all over the world in different gigs, often playing live 4 or 5 times a week! After recent performances in Europe, Russia and Ukraine, and several appearances in the U.S. in tributes to Phil Woods and Lew Soloff, besides a gig with Lew Tabackin, another one with Chris Parker celebrating the release of an album they recorded in honor of Arif Mardin, and an engagement in Japan with Mike Mainieri's Steps Ahead Meets Soul Bop project, he now starts a tour in China this week.

Needless to say, it's a great honor for me to present this exclusive interview with this brilliant composer and trumpet master, my friend & idol Randal Edward Brecker, to the Jazz Station blog.

Arnaldo: The first time I heard you (and immediately fell in love with your playing) was on the “Donato/Deodato” album released in 1973 on Muse Records. I was 10 years old! You did truly perfect solos, sometimes very melodic, on tracks like “Capricorn,” and other times very adventurous like on the funky “Nightripper.” What do you remember of that album? Did you record together with the rhythm section or overdubbed your parts?

Randy: Well that was early on, so I don’t remember that much, but it was a live date at Sound Ideas Studio in NYC for Muse Records, engineered by George Klabin, and I knew the names, but wasn’t that familiar with their music, so I kind of had to feel my way into it! Ray Barretto, Allan Schwartzberg, Bob Rose, Michael Gibson, Romeo Penque and the bass player Wilbur Bascomb, son of trumpet player Dud Bascomb, were in the band. I was very young!

Arnaldo: “Donato/Deodato” was the first time you were exposed to Brazilian and latin rhythms? Or have you heard people like Antonio Carlos Jobim and other bossa nova masters prior to that recording? Were you familiar with Donato or Deodato?

Randy: Like I said I had heard the names and loved Brazilian music at that time, but hadn’t played much of it yet…first heard Brazilian Music on the FM radio in Philly. The DJ was interviewing Herbie Mann about his trip there, and he was fanatically touting Bossa Nova as the ‘new thing’. He was a fanatic! The music spoke to me right away - I was hooked!

Arnaldo: Around that same time, I started to see your name, sometimes credited as Randal Brecker, on some CTI albums by Don Sebesky ("Giant Box") and Grover Washington Jr ("Soul Box.") Which was your first recording for Creed Taylor? And your first session at the Van Gelder Studio?

Randy: First session, at least as a soloist for Creed, might have been Idris Muhammad’s "Power of Soul" on March '74, arranged by Bob James, with Gary King, Joe Beck, Grover Washington Jr. for the Kudu label. First session at Rudy’s was with Duke Pearson’s Big Band (I was in the trumpet section alongside Marvin Stamm, Burt Collins and Joe Shepley) on December 1967 for Blue Note, then some albums also for Blue Note with Horace Silver (the first one had Billy Cobham, John Williams and Bennie Maupin), and many, many, CTI dates. My first solo album, "Score," was also recorded there for the Solid State label (with my old pal Hal Galper, Eddie Gomez, Chuck Rainey, Larry Coryell, Bernard Purdie, Mickey Roker, Jerry Dodgion and my brother Michael) in 1968! I was there quite a bit. What a great space to play! The studio itself made you play better because of the ambience.

Arnaldo: The first Brecker Brothers album that I reviewed (because I was already writing a jazz column for Rio de Janeiro’s daily newspaper Tribuna da Imprensa at that time) was “Detente” and it was released in my native Brazil. So it has a special place in my heart. Could you please tell me your impressions about that album? I remember Airto plays in several tracks. Who had the idea to invite him to the sessions?

Randy: That was George Duke’s idea. He was a great producer and we had a ball working with him. It was our 5th BB record on Arista and we had recently made “peace” with the label, hence the title of the record. I think there is really wonderful music on that record. Great tunes
and production, with Neil Jason, Steve Gadd, Paulinho Da Costa, Ralph MacDonald, Steve Jordan, Don Grolnick, Mark Gray... George was really a ‘pro’ and was into our music so he really was a part of that CD...oops: (ahem) ‘Record.’…no CDs back then.

Arnaldo: I’ll never forget the night I saw you performing live for the first time, in Sao Paulo, back in 1980, with the Mingus Dynasty band. It amazed me to see you playing in an acoustic concert, very different from the Brecker Brothers style. How was your experience with that band?

Randy: Well, I was with various Mingus bands for around 30 years after he passed and it was always an honor and privilege to play his music. Mingus was a big influence on both we and Mike. His souful compositions and the way he utilized the horns in collective improvisation always amazed me. I also played on Mingus' very last recording sessions, released by Atlantic on the albums "Me Myself An Eye" and "Something Like A Bird," when he was not playing bass anymore, but composing and directing the sessions from a wheelchair.

Arnaldo: The second time I saw you live was also in São Paulo, in December 1983, at Maksoud Plaza’s 150 Nightclub, co-leading a quartet with Eliane Elias that had Harvie Swartz on bass (I wrote a review at that time but now I don’t remember who the drummer was? Victor Lewis?) It was “another sound” once again, different from Mingus Dynasty and Brecker Brothers. What can you tell me about that period?

Randy: Well we were working a lot together then, so the Brazilian flavor was very evident...we influenced each other a lot, and yes the drummer was indeed the great Victor Lewis. We also did a fusion album together for Sonet.

Arnaldo: I also love the solo albums you recorded for Sonet and Denon in the late 80s, featuring your challenging compositions. Please tell me more about those bop-oriented records.

Randy: Both were acoustic dates, hard-bop. "In The Idiom" was fun to do live in the studio, no overdubs, with my heroes Joe Henderson, Ron Carter, Al Foster and the young but great Dave Kikoski who I had heard playing with Roy Haynes. Then we did "Live at Sweet Basil" for the Swedish label Sonet, also great with Bob Berg, Kikoski, Dieter Ilg and Joey Baron. Really really FUN! We actually were a touring group at the time. That album was released in the USA on the GNP Crescendo label.

Arnaldo: The first time I heard you singing was on the “Toe To Toe” album. When did you sing for the first time ever? And on records? It’s a coincidence that some trumpeters - from Chet Baker to Claudio Roditi - like to sing? Better: your decision to sing was inspired, in some way, by Chet?

Randy: I'd been singing on records since the second ‘Dreams’ record for Columbia in 1971, "Imagine My Surprise." Will Lee was supposed to sing that song, but he was playing bass, so I did the ‘work vocal’ since I had written the tune and lyrics, and everyone liked it! Then I started writing lyrics to all my tunes like Horace Silver did, and would write and sing one or two tunes on the Brecker Bros or my solo records… nice to take a break from the playing the horn which is a good reason why a lot of trumpet players sing! And yes I liked Chet, Bob Dorough, Mose Allison, Dave Frishberg and singers like that. Yes, trumpet players like to sing because then we can rest our tired ‘chops’!

Arnaldo: I like your rap (as Randroid) on the Brecker Brothers Reunion Band? When Randroid was born? Do you listen to rap and hip-hop albums?

Randy: Well, Gary Bartz gave me that name in Japan where we were touring together. He would amble over early in the night, look into my eyes and say: “Randroid are you in there yet? No? OK I’ll come back and talk to you later!”…then after a couple of rounds later in the night: “Randroid you’re in there! C’mon let’s hang!!” And yes hip-hop is an influence but I can’t say I follow it that much, just the really exceptional rappers who are also musicians like Kendrick Lamar.

Arnaldo: We all know you did hundreds of sessions as sideman. I always liked your solo on a track titled “Morocco” from an album that my late friend Yusef Lateef recorded for CTI (at Van Gelder) in 1979. When I produced a CD compilation titled “CTI Acid Jazz Grooves”, in 1998, I’ve included “Morocco” mainly because of your perfect solo. Do you remember that?

Randy: Sorry, don’t remember that one. Usually the artist wasn’t there and there were A LOT of sessions, so they would all run together…They were always great tho’! Great musicians, great arrangers and the great studio!

Arnaldo: Rudy Van Gelder was my favorite engineer ever. He left Earth recently. Could you please share some stories that you lived at his mythological studio?

Randy: You couldn’t touch anything or he would kill you… Once [trumpeter] Bernie Glow’s earphones were too tight so he bent them and they broke in two! Rudy was fuming but it couldn’t quite say anything because it was ‘Bernie Glow’ But the next day he wrote DO NOT BEND HEADPHONES on each one!

Arnaldo: One of my favorite jazz videos ever is that CTI project “Chroma: Music On The Edge”. I have attended some of the rehearsals at SIR Studios in NY, in October 1990. It was filmed in Japan when that band toured her under the name of CTI Superband. Some months later, before the LaserDisc release, I watched the video when Creed Taylor showed it to me at the CTI office in April 1991, and I remember how he praised your solos and also the Bob Berg solos. How did you became involved on that project? Do you think Berg was in the same style of Michael Brecker?

Randy: I was working a lot for Creed and Jim Beard, and they probably put the band together. Mino Cinelu, Dennis Chambers, Mark Egan, Mark Ledford, Bob Berg, Mike Stern, Jon Herington. Great band! I had already been playing with Berg a lot. We had a quintet that went to Europe a few times and eventually recorded "Live at Sweet Basil." He and Mike practiced together a lot, but he had his own sound and was great too. We miss him...I live out where he lived in East Hampton so we were very close to him and his family.

Arnaldo: Jim Beard, whom I consider a genius, was the Chroma arranger. I know he played with you on "Toe To Toe," that I had the privilege to hear with you in advance in Sao Paulo, back in 1989. When did you work with him for the first time? How did you met him?

Randy: Don’t quite remember... probably some CTI stuff. We went to the same school Indiana University at different times, he’s also from Philly and he was the’ hot new cat in town’ - so we were destined to meet! Jim Beard did a great job producing "Toe to Toe" for MCA, with Bob Mintzer, Bashiri Johnson, Victor Bailey, Darryl Jones, Regina Belle... We had the same manager, Christine Martin, so maybe she was involved in introducing us. I think he is a genius too.

Arnaldo: Speaking of CTI, your latest project for Creed Taylor was that CTI All Stars Tour in 2009. Who invited you? Creed himself? Were you familiar with those tunes from classic albums by Freddie Hubbard and Stanley Turrentine? Have you watched the Blu-Ray that was released from the Montreux concert? Van Gelder did a gorgeous mix!

Randy: Creed indeed invited me himself along with Niels Lan Doky who helped put that tour together, and it’s a very nice Blu Ray disc, with Hubert Laws, Airto, Flora, Todd Bashore, Mark Egan, Jeff Watts, Bill Evans. George Duke, John McLaughlin and Jamie Cullum sat in. The very first night with little rehearsal! Really no rehearsal - we had just flown over and we were too tired to rehearse! Yes, I was familiar with the classic Freddie-Stanley records! Tried to keep them in mind during the concerts! A lot of stuff we were supposed to play didn’t work out for one reason or another….it was all last minute! Rudy was the best as far as sound and mixing! There will never be another like him.

In the second part of this interview, to be published next week, Randy Brecker talks about his most recent albums and tours, his musical marriage with Ada Rovatti, and his next projects. Don't miss!

More images related to the topics in this interview