The jazz world loses two greats: Michael Brecker and Alice Coltrane

Sometimes you turn on the computer and wish you hadn’t. A few minutes ago, I looked at the news ticker from All About Jazz and learned that both Michael Brecker and Alice Coltrane died this weekend. What a damned shame.

Even if you’re not a jazz fan, you’ve heard Michael Brecker. In addition to his unmatched jazz chops, he’s taken some of the most famous saxophone solos in pop and rock history, playing with everyone from Paul Simon (“Still Crazy After All These Years”) to James Taylor to Steely Dan to Joni Mitchell (including the brilliant live album Shadows And Light“).

In 1997 or 98, I took a master class with Michael Brecker at the Tokyo Blue Note. It wasn’t a master class in the usual sense — it was a room of about 40 people who spent an hour with our jaws hitting the floor as we watched Brecker run through a series of excercises and improv ideas. I don’t know if I left knowing how to play my horn better, but I certainly left with an even deeper respect for Brecker’s artistry.

I only got to see Michael Brecker once in concert. He was playing with Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano. The three of them had just made the album Gathering Of Spirits, and they captivated a roomfull of passionate fans during the International Association for Jazz Education conference in New York in 2004.

I love Michael Brecker’s playing, and I’m truly saddened to hear of his passing.

Alice Coltrane was the wife of saxophonist John Coltrane. In recent years, she’d been on the comeback trail, releasing Translinear Light in 2004 — her first new album in 26 years. She was a wonderful spirit and an inspiration for many, including her son, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane. You can see some good interview footage with Alice Coltrane on Brandford Marsalis’s DVD performance Coltrane’s A Love Supreme: Live.