A saxophone great passes, but few notice

Had he lived 50 years ago, the death of Michael Brecker at age 57 of a leukemia-related illness might have made big headlines.
Instead, his passing Saturday went largely unnoticed.
I think that's because jazz goes largely unnoticed.
Five decades ago, Brecker would have commanded much more public notice, simply because more people would have followed the exploits of a top, contemporary tenor saxophone player.
Brecker once had to play in the Saturday Night Live band and did session work to augment his jazz earnings.
The jazz audience has shrunk, and the spotlight likewise diminished.
I listened to Brecker's 1998 album "Two Blocks from the Edge" as I drove around today. I kept wondering what would have happened had Brecker lived in the mid-1950s -- a time when the stature of jazz loomed so much larger.