August 23 2005
Saxophonist Brecker
fights for his life and others'
By CHARLES J. GANS,
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - Michael Brecker felt a sharp pain in his back while performing
at last August's Mount Fuji Jazz Festival in Japan, but initially thought
it was just another of those ailments afflicting touring musicians that an
ice pack or massage could alleviate.
Instead, it turned out to be the first outward symptom of a life-
threatening disease that has temporarily silenced Brecker's saxophone. His
best hope for a cure lies in finding a donor who's a suitable genetic
match for a blood stem cell and bone marrow transplant.
He had always been the more introverted of the Brecker brothers - with
Randy on trumpet they led one of the most successful jazz-rock fusion
groups - preferring to speak through his instrument.
But now his illness - diagnosed as MDS, or myelodysplastic syndrome, a
cancer in which the bone marrow stops producing enough healthy blood cells
- has led him to speak out to encourage people to enroll in a donor
program.
"It's something that doesn't come naturally. ... I obviously miss
playing and writing music," said the 56-year-old Brecker, his voice
sounding frail in a telephone interview from his suburban home in
Hastings-on-Hudson where he's recuperating after being hospitalized for
nearly seven weeks for chemotherapy treatment. "On the other hand,
this whole experience has allowed me to be a conduit to attract attention
for a cause that's much larger than me ... for people to go get tested (for
the marrow donor program) because I know a lot of lives will be saved."
Brecker's illness forced him to cancel a much anticipated appearance at
this month's Newport Jazz Festival, where he would have showcased the
stylistic versatility that won him 11Grammys, including two last year for
his large ensemble album "Wide Angles." Brecker had been
scheduled to perform with Saxophone Summit - whose adventurous and
spiritual music reflects the influence of tenor saxophone legend John
Coltrane - and Steps Ahead 2005, the latest edition of the all- star
jazz-rock fusion band formed by Brecker and vibraphonist Mike Mainieri in
the late '70s.
Former Miles Davis sideman Bill Evans filled in for Brecker with Steps
Ahead because its arrangements required a saxophonist. But Brecker's
co-leaders in Saxophone Summit - tenor sax standouts Joe Lovano and Dave
Liebman - decided not to replace him and dedicated their performance to
their friend, climaxing their set with the Coltrane composition
"India."
"It's impossible to get a replacement for Michael Brecker," said
Lovano, interviewed backstage after the Newport performance. "Mike's
a virtuoso ... and he brings his personal history into everything that he
does on his horn."
Liebman's friendship with the Philadelphia-born Brecker goes back to 1969,
just before Brecker moved to New York and began making a name for himself
with the jazz-rock group Dreams and as a sideman with his brother in
pianist Horace Silver's band, eventually becoming one of the most
influential saxophonists of his generation.
"A year ago we were having dinner at a restaurant celebrating
Saxophone Summit and had a wonderful time ... and then a year later he
doesn't know if he is going to live," said Liebman. "When this
happens, it's really a shock for you. We're all hoping he'll be back with
us on the stage soon."
Brecker's presence was very much felt during the festival which was the
launching point for an international drive spearheaded by his wife, Susan,
and longtime manager and friend, Darryl Pitt, to encourage people to sign
up as potential bone marrow donors.
Announcements from the stage urged people to go to a tent set up by the
Rhode Island Blood Center. By the festival's close, more than 300
musicians, festival staff and fans had given blood samples to enroll in
the registry, said Patricia Lang, director of the center's Marrow Donor
Program. Similar drives are planned for other jazz festivals, including
this week's Red Sea Jazz Festival in Israel.
Brecker's siblings and children were tested but none turned out to be a
suitable match for a transplant in which the donor's healthy blood stem
cells are used to replace the patient's unhealthy ones destroyed by
chemotherapy. The best chance for finding a match is likely to come from
someone who shares Brecker's Eastern European Jewish ancestry, but
European Jews as well as blacks, American Indians, Hispanics and other
minorities remain underrepresented in the donor pool.
Brecker says he has been "completely bowled over" by the
outpouring of support from close friends such as pianist Herbie Hancock
and singer Diana Krall as well as many fans he has never
met. His two children, Jessica, 16, and Sam, 12, have been dropping by his
management office to answer e-mails and telephone calls.
Brecker said all "the cards, letters and e-mails often reduced me to
tears. It's given me a strong lifeline, a powerful force to keep trying to
live."
When Brecker returned from Japan a year ago, an MRI found that he had a
fractured vertebrae. Shortly afterward he was diagnosed with MDS. He had
surgery to fix his back in October, but the intense back and muscle pains
kept recurring. His symptoms were atypical of MDS, but finally a doctor at
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center was able to link the pains to
pressure being put on nerves from cells leaking out of the bone marrow.
For both Brecker's wife and manager, the past year has been a strange
odyssey in which they have had to navigate a whole new world. Brecker's
Web site now features an appeal from Susan Brecker along with a list of
frequently asked questions about stem cell transplants.
"Probably the most dramatic change is that we've been introduced into
this world that we never knew existed - the world of bone marrow and stem
cell transplants," said Ms. Brecker, a psychologist, who has tried to
maintain as normal a life as possible for her children while taking care
of her husband and rallying support. "We never knew how many people
needed it ... and how simply and easily the stem cells were harvested and
given to somebody to save their life."
Pitt and Ms. Brecker have tried to dispel some misconceptions about bone
marrow transplants, most notably that being a donor necessarily requires
an invasive procedure in which a hollow needle is inserted into the hip to
extract the marrow. Now, many leading cancer centers hook up donors by
intravenous lines to a machine that separates out the desired blood cells
before restoring the blood to the body.
Pitt cites statistics provided by the National Marrow Donor Program that
show that nearly 9,000 people a year die in the United States of leukemia,
MDS and other diseases because a suitable bone marrow donor could not be
found.
"Mike was shocked at the number of people who die each year waiting
for a donor," said Pitt. "A solution to the problem exists and
it's us. When increasingly greater numbers of us become donors, the
challenge of finding a needle in a haystack will no longer exist ...
finding a needle in a pile of needles is a future which can be realized."
Brecker, who gave his last public performance in March, had written and
arranged the music for a new small ensemble album before he was sidelined,
but that project has been put on hold. He will be returning to
Sloan-Kettering next week for a second round of chemotherapy and is taking
an anti-inflammatory steroid to relieve his muscle pains.
Brecker says it has not been easy to stop making music, but he has tried
to shift his focus.
"I'm strongly focusing on other things, and some days are better than
others," he said. "I really value the years that I had and
hopefully will continue to have playing music but right now it's kind of
healthier for me if I don't think about it.
"If I'm able to play again that would be incredible. ... I remain
hopeful in terms of my own personal plight and at the same time I would
encourage everyone regardless of their background to go out and join the (bone
marrow) registry ... to help someone in saving their life."
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