At the age of nineteen Michael Brecker arrived in New York, where his brother Randy Brecker already lived for two and a half years. Michael Brecker rented an apartment and started meeting various people involved in jazz, introduced to him by his brother. He played all kind of sessions at the time, getting more and more calls for rehearsals.
Michael Brecker settled for some time in the band led by R&B singer Edwin Birdsong; his brother Randy Brecker, played in that band as well as Billy Cobham, John Abercrombie and Barry Rogers. Brecker brothers founded jazz-rock band Dreams.
In Dreams they experimented with combining jazz, R&B and rock, making it a ground breaking band in late sixties. Featured musicians (beside Michael Brecker on saxophone and Randy Brecker on trumpet) included Barry Rogers on trombone, making three of them a horn section combined with rock rhythm section consisted of Billy Cobham, Don Grolnick, John Abercrombie and Will Lee. Two rock musicians, Jeff Kent and Doug Lubhan, also played in the band and they also wrote songs. The band signed a contract with Columbia Records and recorded two albums, Dreams and Imagine My Surprise.
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
I'd play the solo from that record into a metal trash can to simulate reverb. I still remember it note for note.
So I grew up with Jazz. It just got in my blood."
Michael Brecker