"Syzygy" is a tour de force from Michael Brecker's 1987 self-titled debut on Impulse! Records, featuring four soloists in an up-tempo swing performance that ranks among the most exciting tracks on the album. Brecker opens with a tenor saxophone solo at a blazing 300 BPM, his command of the instrument at this extreme tempo nothing short of astonishing. Pianist Kenny Kirkland follows with a harmonically adventurous solo that matches Brecker's intensity. Brecker then returns on the Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI), an instrument he helped pioneer and popularize, producing otherworldly timbres while maintaining the same improvisational logic as his acoustic playing. Pat Metheny closes the solo sequence on electric guitar, his liquid tone and melodic inventiveness providing yet another perspective on the composition. The meeting of Brecker and Metheny, two of the most influential voices in modern jazz, produces an electric musical conversation. With Charlie Haden on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums propelling the rhythm section, Syzygy captures the creative ferment of a group of extraordinary musicians pushing each other to their highest levels of invention.
