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Saxophone Summit
Biography
They're giants on their own, but put saxophonists Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman, and Joe Lovano together in a group and you're talking monolithic. Saxophone Summit is that group, one that brings back memories of hard bop "blowing sessions" and "battles" that were popular decades before. Hardly some contrived, record-company idea, the Saxophone Summit first -- unofficially -- came together in Japan in 1997. Japan was commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Coltrane tribute concert/festival Live Under the Sky with a new concert/festival called Live by the Sea. Joshua Redman, Mike Brecker, Dave Liebman, and George Garzone (substituting for Joe Lovano, who had to cancel last minute) came together for the 1997 Coltrane tribute, and their set was a smash hit. A year later Brecker, Liebman, and now Lovano repeated the set at the Red Sea Festival in Eilat, Israel. A couple months after that there was a weeklong engagement at Birdland in New York City and requests for festival appearances came from all over the world. With each member busy with any number of high-profile gigs, Saxophone Summit was more off-again than on-gain until 2003 when the three blowers met again and toured Europe. The group played 13 concerts over a two-week period covering nine countries with Phil Markowitz (piano), Cecil McBee (bass), and Billy Hart (drums) in tow. It was that edition of the band that fans finally got to hear in their own living room when Telarc released Gathering of Spirits in August of 2004. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
Selected Discography