WORTH A LISTEN
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There can never be too many recordings from the early 70s featuring keyboardist Jan Hammer. At the time, Hammer was simply on fire. On John Abercrombie’s Timeless, he’s featured on organ, synthesizer and piano. Too bad he had to be playing with guitarist John Abercrombie. I’m sorry, but no way is Abercrombie […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Outbreak may have drummer Dennis Chambers’ name above the title, but this is really producer/keyboardist/arranger/composer Jim Beard’s date, and that’s just fine. Of course, Beard has designed the album to showcase Chambers’ awesome drum playing, and that’s one of the major pleasures of Outbreak, but only one among many.
Beard has recruited […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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My guess is that Black Market is one of Joe Zawinul’s favorite Weather Report dates. Why? Well, it’s a major Third World groove machine which, judging by the interviews Zawinul has given over the years, seems to be his main priority. Another thing that Zawinul should be justifiably proud of: his […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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During the Brecker Brothers’ first incarnation, the band was all about merging jazz with funk and R&B. With The Return Of The Brecker Brothers, the brothers widened their net to include African pop forms and Brazilian music. If you want to hear what the Brecker Brothers might have sounded like if […]

WORTH A LISTEN
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Music On The Edge is a bit of a misnomer for this live release from some very talented musicians. That title implies that the music contained therein is uniformly new and innovative.
In some cases, that’s true, like Jim Beard’s arrangement of composer Aaron Copeland’s Fanfare For The Common Man, which has […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Mysterious Traveller functions as an unexpected waystation in Weather Report’s evolution. In the previous album, Sweetnighter, Zawinul had drastically changed the sound of the group, focusing almost maniacally on groove. On Mysterious Traveller, it’s not quite as simple. The grooves are more varied and more subdued. This time, there is more […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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The original Head On recording was one of those third-stream efforts that were intermittently attempted throughout the sixties and early seventies by the likes of Joe Zawinul and Miles Davis. The composer Bobby Hutcherson is working with here is the classically trained pianist Todd Cochran, who joins vibist Hutcherson, along with […]

CLASSICS THAT I HATE
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The Lost Trident Sessions has long been considered one of the holy grails of fusion. At the time it was recorded, there was disagreement among the members of the group as to whether the music contained therein was underorchestrated or just fine the way it was. Eventually, the group decided to […]

NOT WORTH YOUR TIME
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Dave Liebman started his career playing with people like John McLaughlin, Miles Davis and Elvin Jones. His first group that I know of was Open Sky, a trio with drummer Bob Moses and bassist Frank Tusa. Then Liebman went on to found Lookout Farm, with Richie Beirach, Don Alias, John Abercrombie, […]

CLASSICS THAT I HATE
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After a brief two-album flirtation with Brazilian jazz, Return To Forever shifted to it’s most popular incarnation, a kind of swaggering but lightweight combination of funk, arena rock cliches, Chick Corea’s cheesy Latinisms, and a touch of jazz. That didn’t turn out to be such a bad thing ultimately, as it […]