"Live in Helsinki 1995", a live recording by UMO Jazz Orchestra and saxophone legend Michael Brecker (1949-2007) is set for release this coming autumn. The concert was recorded at the recently opened Royal Cotton Club in Helsinki in October 1995. The recording was produced by Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE and the release is UMO’s first from YLE’s archives to feature an international soloist. It is also Brecker’s first posthumous live album.
The recording features compositions by Michael Brecker, Horace Silver, Vince Mendoza and Kirmo Lintinen, among others, with styles ranging from bebop to funk and ballads. Brecker was invited to Finland by Rich Shemaria, UMO Jazz Ochestra’s conductor at the time.
The record comes out on US -based label Random Act Records, with a release in Germany and the United States set for September. Ten percent of the profits will be donated to a cancer research foundation set up in the late saxophonist’s name. Brecker’s brother, trumpet player Randy Brecker, and widow, Susan Brecker, have been intimately involved in the release process.
A record release concert will be held on Friday 18th September at Savoy Theatre in Helsinki. The concert will feature tenor saxophonist Manuel Dunkel, who as a young man of 24 and as a new member of UMO Jazz Orchestra engaged in a fierce battle with Brecker, whom he greatly admired, all captured on this recording.
“Inspiring skills and gorgeous ballads.” – Jukka Hauru, Helsingin Sanomat 22 October 1995