Till Brönner – Midnight (Verve) – 2025
In 1995, German trumpet virtuoso Till Brönner – then all of 24 – was offered the remarkable opportunity of recording in the United States with musicians of his choice. Already a veteran of German jazz legend Peter Herbolzheimer’s band and the RIAS Big Band, Brönner had waxed three discs of his own, including Generations of Jazz, with Ray Brown and Jeff Hamilton. After recording in big band, straight-ahead and orchestral formats, the ambitious young trumpeter switched gears entirely and charged head first in to the contemporary jazz world that was enormously popular on GRP Records during the nineties.
And who better to pull it off than New York’s finest and busiest session musicians? Midnight features the amazing talents of the late, great Michael Brecker, surely the finest tenor saxophonist of his generation, guitarist Dean Brown, bassist Anthony Jackson, drummer Dennis Chambers and former Weather Report percussionist Manolo Badrena. Added to the mix are Tower of Power’s David Mann and George Whitty, who, like Brown, was then part of the newly re-formed Brecker Brothers band.
Initially released in early 1997, Midnight went absolutely nowhere: the label, Button Records, never had the budget to support or promote the disc and quickly went out of business altogether. Shortly thereafter, Brönner signed with the legendary Verve Records – the one-time home to both of the trumpeter’s idols, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. His Verve debut, Love (1998), became the first of Brönner’s discs to be issued in the United States and notably marked his debut as a vocalist.
Over the next 16 years, Brönner waxed a dozen diverse discs for Verve, including such highlights as Jazz Seen (2001), the soundtrack for the documentary film on photographer William Claxton; the sublime Oceana (2006), produced by Larry Klein; the Brazilian affair Rio (2008), featuring such guests as Annie Lennox, Milton Nascimento, Aimee Mann and Sergio Mendes; and the superb Til Brönner (2012), a tribute to Freddie Hubbard and 70s fusion. Verve even reissued Midnight in 2009, introducing Brönner’s first crossover disc to a whole new world of listeners and fans.
Till Brönner has since become Germany’s most famous jazz export. His 2004 disc That Summer was a pop hit in Germany, making Brönner the best-selling jazz musician in German history, while The Good Life (2016) was an American jazz hit. Over the years, Brönner has garnered three German ECHO Awards (including one for producing German bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff’s 2007 disc The Jazz Album: Watch What Happens, with such jazz luminaries as Chuck Loeb, Alan Broadbent and Peter Erskine) and was nominated for a Grammy Award for his solo on Take 6’s “Seven Steps to Heaven.”
The trumpeter-vocalist is also an accomplished photographer, having exhibited in many museums, galleries and cultural institutions, such as the Ludwig Museum, Museum Küppersmühle, Alexander Ochs’ Salon-Galerie, Leica Gallery Zingst. Indeed, Brönner’s photographs have graced several album covers, including his own Nightfall (2018), with Dieter Ilg, and On Vacation (2020), with Bob James.
The vinyl debut of Midnight is cause for celebration. “It was,” wrote German jazz journalist Ralf Dombroski, “and still is, a unique statement for a German jazz artist.” AllMusic’s Thom Jurek, in his four-star review, said that “Midnight remains an undeserved sleeper in the trumpeter’s catalog. It shouldn’t be…Midnight is not only a high point in Brönner’s catalog, but a shining light in contemporary jazz. Period.” The soulful, thoughtful and positively perennial Midnight is not only one of Till Brönner’s best, but one of the best recordings from this period in jazz.
Douglas Payne
December 2024
