Here's a saying that 'the family that plays together, stays
together.' That old adage is put into effect on Brecker Plays Rovatti: Sacred
Bond, which not only features the husband and wife team of Grammy Award-winning
trumpeter and fusion pioneer Randy Brecker and saxophonist-composer Ada Rovatti
but also includes their 10-year-old daughter Stella in a vocal cameo appearance
on one track. Backed by a versatile core group of pianist David Kikoski,
bassist Alex Claffy and drummer Rodney Holmes, with guest appearances by
keyboardist Jim Beard, guitarist Adam Rogers and Brazilian percussionist Café,
the married couple forges an easy chemistry together on the 10 tracks here, all
composed by Rovatti.
A stellar showcase for Rovatti's wide-ranging musical
tastes, as well as Brecker's inimitable trumpet prowess, Brecker Plays Rovatti:
Sacred Bond shows her remarkable growth as a composer since her 2003 debut as a
leader, Under the Hat. "She's very serious about it and she's reached
another level in the writing department with this record," said Brecker of
his wife, who also released Airbopin 2006, Green Factor in 2009 and Disguise in
2014. "Aside from the fact that I'm her husband, it's so nice to hear
these tunes. It all fits together well and it's really enjoyable to listen to.
And believe me, they're not easy at all to play over. Ada had to kind of show
me some tricks to get through some of these tunes."
In the liner notes, Brecker proudly states about his
sax-playing wife: "I've watched her development as both a player and
arranger/composer with fascination. Besides music, she's the greatest wife and
mother in the world, a master Italian chef with 160 cookbooks, a master
seamstress and designer, interior decorator, photographer, master crafts
person, website designer, record-cover designer, record company owner and head
of our household. Just ask any of our daughter Stella's friends where'd they
like to be, other than their own homes, and they'll say: sitting on our living
room floor doing craftwork that Ada designed for them...a true Renaissance
woman."
Regarding the title of their latest collaboration (they
also appear together on Brecker's 2003 album 34th & Lex, 2013's The Brecker
Brothers Band Reunion and 2019's Rocks with the NDR Big Band -The Hamburg Radio
Jazz Orchestra), Brecker explained that it addresses the unconditional love
that exists between mother and daughter over time. "They're as tight as
can be," he said of Ada and Stella. "All three of us are. And it was
just nice that they're both singing in octaves on the title track, which is
pretty cool." Added Rovatti, "It's a sacred bond among the three of
us."
Brecker and Rovatti met in 1996 when the trumpeter was
guesting with a big band in Italy in which she was playing alto saxophone. As
he recalled in his liner notes to Brecker Plays Rovatti: Sacred Bond:
"After exchanging numbers (I slyly gave her my card, but she asked for
it!) and many letters (pre-email!), we started seeing each other long distance,
then she moved to NYC after spending a year in Paris, eventually working with
the great French singer Anne Ducros. We started seeing each other more and
more, and were married in December 2001."
While Rovatti has made a strong impression with her bold
tenor sax playing in past outings, she admits to feeling somewhat overwhelmed
by having to fill the shoes of the late tenor titan Michael Brecker on the
frontline, alongside Randy, in The Brecker Brothers Reunion Band. "I've
been in a funny spot, as you can imagine," she said. "Being married
to Randy and having such an amazing brother in the family as Mike, and me
playing the same instrument as Mike, I always felt like the weakest link. Because
Randy and Mike...they're playing is just on a different kind of level."
Nevertheless, she acquits herself with equal parts
conviction and grace on both tenor and soprano saxes on the 10 eclectic tracks
that comprise Brecker Plays Rovatti: Sacred Bond. And her accomplished,
fully-realized compositions speak for themselves. "I'm trying to spend as
much time as I can every day to put some ideas down on the keyboard," said
Ada. "But there are days when I'm concentrating more on composition and
others where I concentrate more on practicing my instrument. It's a good
balance, I think."
The collection kicks off with the upbeat "Sacred
Bond," which has mother and daughter doubling wordless vocals on the
melodic head alongside trumpet and tenor sax, Kikoski's electric piano comping,
Claffy's funky baselines and Holmes' insistent backbeat. Rovatti solos first,
demonstrating her deeply impactful tone, easy rhythmic assuredness and
remarkable facility as she builds to double-timed flurries and a magnificent
crescendo.
Brecker follows with a typically bright, bristling and eminently
melodic trumpet solo - the kind he has been documenting on record for 50 years,
beginning with his own debut as a leader, 1969's Score- before mother and
daughter return to sing the melodious refrain together.
Rovatti's affinity for Brazilian music is represented by
two tracks here. First is the undulating samba "Helping Hands," which
features a lovely Brecker flugelhorn solo, a buoyant tenor solo from Rovatti
and an outstanding upright bass solo from Claffy. Second is the easy-grooving
"Other Side of the Coin," featuring potent solos from husband and
wife along with a melodic electric bass solo from Claffy and some playful cucia
accents from Café. "Being Italian (she was born in the small town of Pavia
in Northern Italy, just 35 km south of Milan), my native language has the same
kind of laid back feel, rolling phrases and words that kind come in a wave as
Portuguese. And I think there's also a kind of similarity there between
Brazilian music and Italian music. It's funny because I don't listen too so
much Brazilian jazz but somehow it just kind of grows on me. And, of course,
Randy's way of playing on a Brazilian beat is really awesome. He's deeply
connected to that sensibility."
Switching gears,
Rovatti pays tribute to the late Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, on the
aptly-titled "Reverence" (which is the ultimate form of
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T"). Guitarist Adam Rogers brings some stinging
six-sting work to the proceedings while Jim Beard underscores with churchy
organ work as Randy and Ada negotiate the changes of this soulful,
gospel-tinged number with Brecker Brothers-like tightness and swagger. Said Ada
of her connection on the frontline with her husband, "Your sound and your
way of phrasing just kind of blends with the person that you play with the
most, and for me it's Randy. And I think that's also why when Randy decided to
put together The Brecker Brothers Band Reunion that he felt comfortable asking
me to do it with him. Clearly, nobody can take Mike's spot. But he was looking
for somebody who had their own voice and also had the same kind of connection
with him. And I hope that I bring something special to the band, that kind of
deep connection that Randy had with Mike."
Adds the composer about her heartfelt tribute to Aretha:
"I remember when I picked up the saxophone at the end of high school and
soon after did a gig with a singer who was trying to sing Aretha's hit song,
'Think.' And then, 20-plus years later, I had the chance to play with Aretha
Franklin herself at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Just to be on that
stage - one of the most prestigious stages in the United States - with the real
Aretha, it was really the highlight of my life. And it made me think back to
when I was in a small town in Italy, picking up an instrument and playing with
this local singer and fantasizing about maybe one day playing with the real
Queen of Soul. So in that moment that I was on stage with Aretha, I was kind of
patting myself on the shoulder and saying to myself, "OK, you did
it!"
Holmes' gentle brushwork sets a serene tone for the opening
to "Baggage," an older tune of Rovatti's that she wrote for a
composition competition that she won in Italy a few years ago. Trumpet and
tenor wrap around each other in a warm embrace on the melodic head and as the
piece picks up steam, Ada digs deep, delivering her most commanding and
heightened solo of the set (even dropping in a brief quote from John Coltrane's
A Love Supreme along the way). Brecker follows with an adventurous solo of his
own and Kikoski channels his inner McCoy Tyner in bringing his own brand of
heat to this expansive number.
While Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin is saluted by Ada on
this outing, another personage of royalty is saluted on "The Queen of Bibelot."
It is none other than Rovatti herself. Acknowledging the dictionary definition
of 'bibelot' as 'a small decorative ornament or trinket,' she confessed to
collecting an inordinate number such baubles. "I'm definitely the Queen of
that," she laughed. "I love to go to a thrift store and find an odd
object. In fact, I'm looking at one right now. It's a wood zebra doing a squat,
which I think it's hilarious. So I have many little teensy objects that to many
people don't mean anything. But to me, I can tell you about each one - how I
got it, where I got it, why I got it. And that's just like the way I am also in
music. I treasure things and value stuff that maybe other people overlook, but
I find the beauty in it." The lone bop flavored number of the set,
"The Queen of Bibelot" is driven by Holmes' unrelenting swing factor
and features killer solos from Kikoski, Rovatti and Brecker.
The cleverly-titled "Britches Brew" hints at
Miles Davis' electronic phase in the wake of his 1970 landmark recording, Bitches
Brew. The two-keyboard attack of Beard and Kikoski on this quintessentially
'70s number recalls the spiky interaction between Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea
in Miles' touring Bitches Brewband. Kikoski and Beard turn in show-stopping
solos here while Randy and Ada follow with some rapid-fire exchanges on the
electric modal vamp before Rogers enters with one of his signature flowing
legato guitar solos. Holmes and Café add a percussive exclamation point on the
solo section before the whole band takes it out in a kind of tight-fitting
group counterpoint.
Rovatti switches to soprano sax on "Brainwashed,"
an upbeat number that carries some heavy connotations. "That tune is
regarding the political situation in this country today," said the
composer. "In my youth I was never interested too much in politics but now
being a U.S. citizen and a mother and seeing what this president is doing, I
have become very conscious of the current political situation. You cannot notbe
shocked, outraged and affected by what's going on. It really was a wake-up call
for me to be more active and not just observe what's going on but try to stand
up against it." Listen closely and you may hear the seeds of Harold
Arlen's "If I Only Had a Brain" (from The Wizard of Oz) woven into
the fabric of Rovatti's buoyant melody here.
"Mirror,"
Ada's reflection on aging, is imbued with some of the most scintillating
exchanges between husband and wife on the record. Rovatti doubles the engaging
melodic line with wordless vocals and Holmes offers a smoking drum solo midway
through. Says the composer of the inspiration behind the tune's title,
"It's about looking at yourself in the mirror and just seeing the start of
the aging process and thinking about the wisdom that you've gained. So it was
kind of an introspective thing of 'OK, here I am - not that young anymore, not
that old yet, but kind of getting there." As for her vocal contributions
here, she says, "I consider myself a shower singer...not even a shower
singer. But I think it brings a nice texture to the tune."
The haunting minor key closer, "Quietly Me," is
an entrancing 6/8 number that features trumpet and tenor sax blending
beautifully at the outset and engaging in a kind of shadow play by the tune's
end. "Randy has the melody and I kind of play it back to him," says
Ada, explaining their telepathic hookup here. "We kind of answer to each
other with a delayed kind of phrasing, one following the other in a kind of
counterpoint, talking to each other."
That same kind of indelible chemistry can be heard throughout
Brecker Plays Rovatti: Sacred Bond, a stunning showcase for both husband and
wife.
