Recital: Mike Brehm '22 MM, Jazz Trumpet

NEC's students meet one-on-one each week with a faculty artist to perfect their craft. As each one leaves NEC to make their mark in the performance world, they present a full, professional recital that is free and open to the public. It's your first look at the artists of tomorrow.

Mike Brehm '22 MM studies Jazz Trumpet with John McNeil.

This performance is open to in-person audiences, and can also be viewed via livestream.

View livestream from Eben Jordan

Program notes from the performer

Ceora – Lee Morgan

This tune was written by what I consider to be my favorite trumpet player, Lee Morgan. Lee had a lot of influence on me especially when I first started. His solo on the original recording of Ceora is one of the major influences for me to learn this music.

Fast Daddy – Mike Brehm

This is an original composition that has morphed from a funk tune to a rhythm changes tune, and to what it is today, all based on a nickname that a group of musician friends, mostly within this group I am performing my recital with, that nicknamed me “Fast Daddy”.

Hill’s Inspiration – Mike Brehm

I based this original composition on a Marquis Hill tune, as well as his compositional style. I started listening to Marquis’s music after I had been in the Navy for a year or so, and it was the leading factor that contributed to me making my first attempts at composing. Marquis’s playing and composing continue to inspire me, and I am grateful that I was able to spend a few days with him at the Centrum Jazz camp in 2019 and thank him in person, as well as study and learn from him that week.

For E.J. – Mike Brehm

This original composition was modeled after Wolfgang Muthspiel’s “Father and Son”. I wrote the melody as part of a final project, but as I developed the tune, I began thinking about my grandfather Edward Jacob “EJ” Lee who passed away at the ripe age of 92 years old this past fall. I hope this tune I wrote can honor his memory.

Interlude – Mike Brehm

This composition is in place to break up the feel of all the other tunes and allowed me to explore composing with an Ostinato, which is a repeated note or phrase played most often by the bass or piano or combination of lower register instruments when performed with a group such as this.

Oscillate – Mike Brehm

This was written as first just a bass ostinato that I couldn’t get out of my head in my first semester here at NEC. I would play it late at night instead of working on assignments, and it would have a calming effect on me and help relieve stress. Dave Holland chose this composition for the Composition Masterclass in April, and I am excited to revisit this composition and see how it evolves over the next months and years post-graduation.

Weather the Storm – Mike Brehm

I wrote this tune to help express the feelings I have had regarding the process of moving across the country with two young kids, rehabbing a knee fresh from ACL repair surgery, and making my best attempt to improve myself in this Master’s Degree while also remaining a decent father and husband. There have been quite a few personal challenges for my wife and I through this period and this song represents those feelings. Composing it, I tried to represent the calm before the storm, the storm itself, and the dying out of the storm.

A Love Letter To My Family – Mike Brehm

Throughout all the obstacles the last year and a half have presented to us, my family has been steadfast. My wife Jaime has been more supportive than I ever deserved, and my kids have forever remained loving and fun. The first section I wrote as a tribute to my wife, played first as a solo trumpet melody, then as a ballad. The Latin “Baio” groove for the rest of the tune is to my kids, but mostly to my son Arlen, who I used to take to the park daily but have now had to refuse his requests to play so I can finish schoolwork or go to rehearsal. Each time I say no to him it hurts a little more. The lyrics I wrote for the melody are below.

I’ll come back again someday, and when I do, I’ll be sure to say I’m sorry

I’ll return to run and play with you, until we see the starry sky.

Laughing and acting, remapping just you and I,

Starry sky lets us know when we should go back

Home, is where I want to be with you, I know that you want me there

Too, so we can play the day away, until we see the starry sky.

We’ll be together you and I, and then together we can fly.