Live In Amsterdam - Stone Alliance

Oct

10

Live In Amsterdam - Stone Alliance

≡ Category: 1970s, Fusion, Jazz Funk, Latin Jazz, Music Reviews, Post Bop, Worth A Listen |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

WORTH A LISTEN

Rating:

I’ve got to be honest — it feels like there’s something missing from the Stone Alliance trio in their live recording Live In Amsterdam, although there’s certainly nothing wrong with the individual members.

Steve Grossman is an almost forgotten sax player, partly because he emigrated to Europe in the late 70s/early 80s. Although he’s played traditional bebop in recent years, his forte in the 70s was fusion played with a Coltranish bent for phrases built on the pentatonic scale. Don Alias is one of the all time great percussionists. Gene Perla hasn’t been recorded enough, but was brilliant on Elvin Jones’ Live At The Lighthouse and On the Mountain recordings. Together, they seem to spontaneously combust.

The fusion they’re playing is a unique mix of Latin, post bop, and funk. And that may be part of the problem. Gene Perla has more than enough to do outlining the chords and working up the groove with Don Alias. Steve Grossman carries the burden of implying the outside harmonies and improvising at the same time. What the music really needs is a killer keyboardist like Jan Hammer to provide contrasting harmonies with Grossman or to feed him ideas. Without that, the music of Stone Alliance feels like a skeleton without enough meat on it. (To hear what the band sounds like with Jan Hammer, check out Terra Firma and Some Shapes To Come.)

That said, the performances on this CD blaze with energy, the equal of anything recorded by the Mahavisnhu Orchestra. The tunes are cool, too.

The other problem with Live In Amsterdam is that these performances were recorded off of the P.A. for the band members’ personal use. They were never meant to be released for public consumption, so the sound isn’t up to professional standards. That’s bound to bother casual listeners.

What this all means is that Live In Amsterdam is for musicians or for people who really love Stone Alliance’s studio recordings and want to check them out live. To see what camp you fall into, check out the samples at P.M. Records.