Aug.
24, 2005, 11:19AM Ailing
saxophonist Brecker says he's 'hanging in there'
By
ALFRED LUBRANO PHILADELPHIA
— The genes that bestowed a rare musical gift are now interrupting an
important artistic life.
Michael
Brecker, the
tenor saxophonist considered to be one of the most innovative and
influential in the world, is suffering from a potentially deadly
bone-marrow disease. An urgent search is on to find the close genetic
match he needs for treatment. "We
are all in a kind of shock," said Jaleel Shaw, an alto saxophonist
who teaches jazz at Temple University. "I get lots of e-mails from
different musicians about it. It's devastating. "When
you lose one of these guys — wait, we can't talk like he's gone. I think
something good will happen." Among
the music community, there is a sense that a national treasure is gravely
threatened. Subdued
and weak, Brecker said on Monday that he's "hanging in there,"
with the support of fellow musicians and fans, as well as his family. "The
e-mails and cards I get, beyond my wildest dreams, brought me to tears
every day," said Brecker, 56, an 11-time Grammy winner, from his home
in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. "It never ceases to amaze me the power
other people can have to help. "Now,
life is constantly throwing people curves. And this was a good curveball,
boy." Brecker
suffers from myelodysplastic syndrome, a form of cancer in which the bone
marrow ceases to produce healthy blood cells. He
needs a bone-marrow transplant, in which blood-forming stem cells are
harvested from the donor's marrow, the spongy tissue inside large bones in
the body. Brecker's unhealthy stem cells must be destroyed by chemotherapy,
then replaced by those of a donor. Unlike
a heart or kidney donor, a bone-marrow donor must be closely matched to
the recipient, with the basic cell type nearly identical, doctors say. The
donor and recipient must have 10 genetic markers in common, or the marrow
is of no use. In
Brecker's case, the donor would have to be of Eastern European Jewish
extraction, to match his tissue type, not his blood type, said his wife,
Susan. The
need for such specificity makes finding a donor extremely difficult. Brecker
already failed to find a match among more than 5 million people on the
National Marrow Donor Program Registry, his family said. And
neither his two children nor his two siblings can serve as a match, said
Brecker's sister, Emily Brecker Greenberg. "When
we couldn't find a match out of millions, I told Michael, 'I know you
think you're special, but you're not that special,'" Greenberg joked
weakly. Then
she added, "The day I learned I couldn't be a match — oh, my God, I
can't even tell you. I lost it that day. That was a bad day." The
family and Brecker's manager, Darryl Pitt, have been setting up
bone-marrow testing drives to get people to become part of both the
national and international marrow registries. "Mike's
thing is, if you're a Jew from Europe and you can help him, that's great,
thank you," Pitt said. "But even if you're not, please get
tested to help others. It's a nightmare situation: So few people are in
the registries, especially minorities." One
such testing drive was held earlier this month at the Newport Jazz
Festival, where more than 300 people participated, Pitt said. "Finding
a donor is like looking for a needle in a haystack," Pitt
acknowledged. "But if more people get tested, we create more needles." Brecker,
who has been living with the diagnosis since October, is too weak to play
these days. "I can't do anything musical, other than listen," he
said. The
silence is difficult for fans and family, more used to complex and
glorious sounds from the prolific jazzman, one of the world's greatest
living saxophonists. Critics
praise Brecker's onstage improvisations and harmonic innovations. He is
said to be one of the most studied instrumentalists in music schools. Brecker
is known, albeit indirectly, beyond the relatively small world of jazz
enthusiasts. A
desired session man, Brecker has recorded and performed with Frank Sinatra,
Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, James
Taylor, Steely Dan, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Elton John and
John Lennon. If
you've listened to the radio since the 1970s, chances are good you've
heard Brecker play something, somewhere. Ask
Brecker about it all, however, and he shrinks from the praise. "I
honestly don't believe I'm so good," he said. The
world disagrees. Brecker
was born into an artistic family, Greenberg said. Their father, Robert,
was an attorney and "phenomenal pianist"; mother Sylvia ("Ticky")
was a painter. Brother
Randy, a trumpeter, joined with Brecker to form the Brecker Brothers,
called one of the best jazz-rock fusion bands ever. Greenberg,
who was a piano teacher for 20 years, said her brother is too humble to
boast about his artistry. And,
she added, he is too much of a fighter to give up on himself. "He
said once, 'I will barrel through this,' and that's the phrase we all
picked up. We're going to find a match for him." His
wife concurred. "Michael
loves his family and the life he's created," she said. "He does
not want to leave it."
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