Michael Brecker - Minsk

From the 1970s until his death in 2007, aged 57, Michael Brecker was one of the most recorded tenor sax players around. From his own groups, to collaborations with his trumpeter brother Randy, to playing with a roster of jazz and popular artists that reads like a who's who of contemporary musicians, Michael Brecker's discography is second to none.

Able to vary his style to suit the setting, his own albums gravitate towards jazz-fusion with a sound and solos like a modern-day John Coltrane in many cases. Now You See It (Now You Don't) from 1990 was Brecker's third album as leader and sees him using Akai's EWI (electronic wind instrument) alongside the tenor sax.

It was his use of the EWI that initially drew me towards Brecker, first through a Steps Ahead album (Modern Times). I'd personal experience of playing Yamaha's version of an electronic "wind controller" - the WX7, and later the WX5 - to activate MIDI synth modules and allow a non-keyboard player to access and layer sounds far removed from a traditional wind instrument. With a "reed" and fingering like a sax, the WX7 allowed you "blow" everything from a fuzz bass to a violin, via every instrument and sound that your synth module could produce. with the ability to layer sounds and play multiple notes. The blowing action and wind instrument technique meant that you had a different sound to that produced from a keyboard controller, and this is amply demonstrated on Brecker's track here - Minsk.

Cartridge: Ortofon Synergy GM SPU

Phono amp: Graham Slee Accession + Elevator EXP

Turntable: PTP Audio Solid12 + SME M2-12-r tonearm