JazzTimes is honored to present the premiere of “You Ga (Ta Give It)” by trumpeter/flugelhornist Randy Brecker and saxophonist Eric Marienthal. The track is one of 10 that will appear on Double Dealin’, the first co-led album by the multiple Grammy Award-winners, set for a September 11 release on Shanachie Entertainment.
Besides Brecker and Marienthal (the latter on multiple overdubbed saxes), “You Ga (Ta Give It)”—written by Brecker—features George Whitty on keyboards and programming.
“Great one-man sax section here,” Brecker comments, “and the way all the parts and horn sections fit together via counterpoint with George Whitty’s expert programming is really cool … and our solos ain’t bad either! Serious ‘Fonk!’ (Yeah, with an O!) By the way, when I picked out that plunger for the trumpet solo at the hardware store, the proprietor came up to me as I was checking out, with a look of horror on his face, and said: ‘What?! You don’t want the stick?!'”
“This is such a great composition of Randy’s,” Marienthal adds. “It brings you in right from the beginning. George’s intricate production and horn arrangement on this tune are both really special. When I saw the bari sax part he wrote I started laughing and I had to ask him if he was serious! After I played it, though, I realized how cool it sounded in the track. Randy’s plunger solo is so brilliant! Completely takes the tune up to another place. And just when you thought it was safe he throws the plunger down and take it somewhere else … again!”
When asked what brought them together for Double Dealin’, Brecker and Marienthal both offer one word: “Pizza.” (They also happen to be longtime comrades both on and off the stage.) “Eric and I have played together many times throughout the years with different ensembles including Jeff Lorber and the GRP Big Band and always ‘clicked’ as a section,” Brecker notes, “so we were long overdue in doing a project together.”
And speaking of pizza … “Getting to play with Randy is like getting to make a pizza with Mario Batali,” Marienthal enthuses. “You just know that no matter what you do it’s going to end up being great.”
