Pilgrimage

Year of Release:  2007

Selections:

1. The Mean Time
2. Five Months From Midnight
3. Anagram
4. Tumbleweed
5. When Can I Kiss You Again?
6. Cardinal Rule
7. Half Moon Lane
8. Loose Threads
9. Pilgrimage

Musicians:

Michael Brecker - Tenor Sax, EWI
Pat Metheney - Guitars
Herbie Hancock - Piano
Brad Meldau - Piano 
John Patitucci - Bass
Jack DeJohnette - Drums

Liner Notes: None provided.

Watch the new video: ftp://telmedia.telarc.com/headsup/VIDEO/Pilgrimage/Brecker-Final-Epk.html

Excellent Overview from Heads Up. Some excerpts:

  1. Pilgrimage is a singular phenomenon in the annals of recorded music. It’s a consummate creative statement with a vision that speaks to us from a place we can’t comprehend. It’s an invitation to take the spiritual journey of an artist whose legacy will outlast us all.
     
  2. And yet, for all of the extraordinary moments that gave birth to Pilgrimage, this recording almost didn’t happen. “There was the only the briefest of intervals in which this recording was possible, and in the end, Mike created the possibility,” says Darryl Pitt, Brecker’s longtime friend and manager. “We didn’t know until the first day of rehearsal whether Mike would feel up to the task that lay before him – and we never knew what tomorrow would bring. Almost immediately following the sessions, Mike again became quite ill.”
     
  3. The title of the quiet and poignant “When Can I Kiss You Again?” comes from a question posed by Brecker’s teenage son, Sam, during a portion of one of Brecker’s hospital stays when physical contact with family and friends was prohibited. While Brecker blew kisses to his loved ones, his son kept hoping for a chance to be closer to his father.