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Michael Brecker: Timeline

By Scott Lichtman
February 21, 2025
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While the song "Timeline" is structured as a straightforward minor blues, it is nonetheless attention-grabbing and inspiring, for several reasons. First,

Michael Brecker

saxophone, tenor
1949 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Brecker,

Pat Metheny

guitar
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Pat Metheny,

Larry Goldings

organ, Hammond B3
b.1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Larry Goldings and

" data-original-title="" title="">Elvin Jones are the epitome of musicality, whether appreciated individually or as a unit. Then there is Metheny's composition: just when the listener becomes hooked on the catchy variations in the head, the band slides into a multi-bar, dotted-quarter, 11th chord progression in the chorus that lifts you out of 4/4 time and leaves you on another musical plane. Finally, there is Brecker's slow-burn solo, the kind that caused Metheny to refer to Brecker as an "assassin" for blowing away audiences and fellow musicians alike.

Contact Scott Lichtman on All About Jazz.
Jazz/fusion keyboardist & autograph collector in Stamford CT.

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