Jazz Trumpeter Wins A Grammy

Randy Brecker, a jazz trumpeter and part-time resident of Northwest Woods in East Hampton, was on stage in a London jazz club when he discovered that he had won a Grammy Award.

Because he wasn't in the United States, Mr. Brecker had lost track of when the Grammys were to be awarded, thinking, even as he was winning one, that they were to be dished out the following evening.

The good news arrived in a whisper between songs at the famous Ronnie Scott's in London, his publicist said, where Mr. Brecker was in the midst of a week-long gig. The club is the oldest and most famous jazz club in England.

Solo Effort

The Grammy was for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance on "Into the Sun," an album with a strong Brazilian influence seasoned with jazz, funk, and rock. David Sanborn, Gil Goldstein, Cafe, and Bob Mintzer are among the U.S. and Brazilian guest musicians it features.

Mr. Brecker was a member of Blood, Sweat and Tears in the band's heyday, and also has played trumpet with Frank Zappa, Larry Coryell's Eleventh House, Jaco Pastorious's Words of Mouth, and the band Dreams in concerts and on recordings.

"Into the Sun" is Mr. Brecker's first solo effort in six years. He and his brother Michael had a jazz band, The Brecker Brothers, in the mid '70s, but eventually went separate ways. Reuniting in the early '90s, they put out a pair of albums, one of which, "Out of the Loop," won a pair of Grammys in 1994.

One was for Best Instrumental Composition - Michael Brecker's doing. The other - for which Randy Brecker could take credit - was for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance - the same award he picked up last week.

High Quality

Michael Bloom of San Franciso, Mr. Brecker's publicist, said he and Mr. Brecker were aware that he was a strong contender for a Grammy.

"I actually picked him to win for that category," Mr. Bloom said. "Now everybody wants me to pick horses."

"It's very good" Mr. Bloom said of the album. "He has some very good people guesting," and "it's accessible to people who may not be real jazz heads, but also harmonically sophisticated enough" for those who do know their stuff.

"It's a very high quality project," he said.

Concord Vista

"Into the Sun," recorded on the Concord Vista label, a new jazz-oriented subsidiary of Concord Records, was the subsidiary's first Grammy nominee, and winner.

Although he has not performed on the East End, he spends a lot of time in Northwest Woods, and was interviewed on WPBX, the Long Island University public radio station, a couple of months ago.

He could not be reached in England, where he was still performing, this week.