JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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How can I begin to describe Witness without simply vamping about Dave Douglas’ openness to different kinds of music and the extraordinary ability of the musicians to listen to each other in often chaotic circumstances? I could talk about the ongoing political situations and social injustices that inspired this music, but […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Romantic Warrior represents the apogee of what the second edition of Return to Forever was capable of as a band. It balances all of the elements of that group exquisitely — funk, bebop, rock ‘n roll, and progressive rock — but no one element predominates.
The excesses of individual group members are […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Coalition has similar instrumentation to Elvin’s previous date, Poly-Currents, but the two recordings could not be more different. Whereas Poly-Currents was introspective, Coalition tends toward the exuberant.
Coalition starts off with one of Keiko Jones’ (Elvin’s wife) sing-songy themes, this time utilizing a Japanese sounding mode. Wilbur Little’s bass does not keep […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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True, I’d heard Jim McNeely play before. He did a bang up job in the piano chair playing John Coltane tunes on Dave Liebman’s classic Homage To John Coltrane. But East Coast Blow Out was the first time I heard Jim McNeely do what he was put on this planet for […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Shakti’s second album finds them taking a slightly more meditative approach than their fire eating debut. What’s lost in energy is made up for in the cohesiveness of the band.
It truly is a band, too. John McLaughlin’s acoustic guitar does not really dominate. Equal time is given to L. Shankar’s violin […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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When I listen to Metheny Mehldau, the first thing that comes to mind is the piano/guitar duets of Bill Evans and Jim Hall, and that’s not to suggest that Pat Metheny sounds like Jim Hall or that Brad Mehldau sounds like Bill Evans. They do not. But the ethos of the […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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The Colours of Chloe predates bassist Eberhard Weber’s group Colours by four years, but it’s of a piece thematically. It combines elements of Western classical music, minimalism, and non-blues-based improvisation. Weber’s work is often cited as being the basis of the classic ECM label sound, but it is it’s own thing, […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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In the 80s, any hint of progressive jazz was summarily slapped down, which didn’t bother Randy Brecker a bit. He used it as an excuse to form a quintet playing the sort of music that made him want to play jazz in the first place — high quality post bop.
Live At […]

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Poly-Currents is one of the more musically elusive recordings of Elvin Jones’ great Blue Note period. Like many of Elvin’s recordings from this period, there is no chordal instrument, which already presents a layer of abstraction, but Poly-Currents seems almost willfully abstruse.
The instrumental forces are rather large, including Joe […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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There’s something odd about Think Tank. It’s extremely listenable and often compelling from moment to moment, but the melodies don’t stick. You’ll be hard pressed to recall any specific tunes within five minutes of hearing it. This is not as much of a liability as you might think.
One of the great […]