In 1977, studio guys like Hal Galper, Mike Brecker and Randy Brecker were able to make good bucks as studio musicians. Galper just got off doing a stint with Cannonball Adderley and teamed up with the Brecker Brothers, bassist Wayne Docker and drummer Bob Moses to set up ship in NYC’s Sweet Basil for a year to work on their own songbook. What came out of that effort was this hard hitting two disc set, a recorded gig while on tour in Berlin of November of that year. The team is hard hitting, macho, assertive and riding white knucklers the whole time.
Moses gets plenty of solo space on a 12 minute “This Is The Thing” and the 24 minute marathon “Speak With A Single Voice” gives Dockery a chance to stretch out a bit. Mike on tenor teams with Galper on piano for a gorgeous and heartfelt “I’ll Never Stop Loving You”. The team sounds like vintage Blue Note Herbie Hancock on the hard bopping “Triple Play” with Randy bristling on the horn, and Mike is a monster on the muscle flexing “Now Hear This”. The team closes out on a vintage soul/funk groove as the horns get into an AWB jive on “Hey Fool”. Was it really this long ago when jazz was popular?