DON’T BOTHER
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Grace Under Pressure is one of Scofield’s weakest efforts. It’s essentially a trio date, with guitarist Bill Frisell providing atmospheric flourishes, and God help us, blues and jazz flavored improvisations.
The problem is that Bill Frisell can’t improvise his way out of a paper bag. The pity of it is, if he’s used properly, […]

DON’T BOTHER
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Procession marks the debut of a new lineup of Weather Report, with Victor Bailey on bass, Omar Hakim on drums, and Jose Rossy on percussion. As always, keyboardist Joe Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter are the constants. The previous group had recorded the classic Weather Report dates Night Passage and Weather Report (1982), […]

CLASSICS THAT I HATE
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It might be going to far to say that I hate Spectrum, but let’s face it — considering the talent of the musicians involved in this recording, the results are underwhelming, to put it kindly.
Let’s see: Billy Cobham on drums, Jan Hammer on keyboards, Ron Carter on bass, Ray Barretto on […]

DON’T BOTHER
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Planet End seems like it would be a great record. It features two of guitarist Larry Coryell’s best groups — The Eleventh House and the same great band that graced the classic date Spaces: John McLaughlin on guitar, Chick Corea on keys, Miroslav Vitous on bass, and Billy Cobham on drums.
Alas, it was […]

DON’T BOTHER
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I feel like I have a responsibility to review all of saxophonist Dave Liebman’s recordings. The reason why is that Liebman, at least in the 70s, was so often good, that a record buyer would have every reason to believe that any record released under his name would be worth listening to.
Of course […]

DON’T BOTHER
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On her debut recording, Another Mind, Hiromi impressed with her technical abilities, as well as her willingness to embrace a variety of musical approaches. Wild hair up the butt guitarist David Fiuczynski helped her to expand the sonic possibilities of her music considerably. There was enough going on throughout the record that Hiromi’s […]

DON’T BOTHER
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Picture this: I’m browsing in Virgin Records Megastore and I come across 1st Visit, which I had known about for two decades but had never actually seen, even on record.
1st Visit features Dave Liebman and Richie Beirach, one of the greatest duos in jazz, on reeds and piano, respectively. The rhythm section […]