During 1975-1982,
Michael Brecker and his brother
Randy regularly teamed together as
the Brecker Brothers, generally playing R&B/funk with
Randy's trumpet often electrified (à la
Miles of a few years earlier) while
Michael stuck to hot licks on his
John Coltrane-influenced tenor. Certainly the musicianship of their various bands (which often included
David Sanborn on alto) was quite high, but the grooves and vamps were much closer to R&B than to jazz. This CD reissues music from at least five of
the Brecker Brothers' albums, and the electronics (at the time so up to date) sound somewhat dated today. There are some strong moments on the best-of disc, particularly the ballad "Dream Theme." The die-hard
Brecker Brothers fans will prefer to get the complete sessions on the original LPs, but this makes a nice sampler for casual fans. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide