The Story of Moses - Bob Moses

Jan

18

The Story of Moses - Bob Moses

≡ Category: 1980s, Afro Cuban Jazz, Avant-Guarde, Don't Bother, Free Jazz, Fusion, Jazz Funk, Jazz Rock, Latin Jazz, Progressive Big Band, Reviews, Trad Jazz, Vocals, World Fusion |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

DON’T BOTHER

Rating:

If the inclusion of multiple musical genres and thematic cohesiveness were enough to make a piece of music a masterpiece, Bob Moses’ The Story of Moses would surely qualify. A cursory analysis of The Story of Moses would reveal hip hop, funk, salsa, rock, and traditional Yiddish musical influences. No less an authority than Pat Metheny opines that The Story of Moses (on the Gramavision label) is “A masterwork of conception and sound…one of the most important records of the decade.”

I beg to differ.

I mean, it’s entertaining and all in it’s nuttiness. I should probably mention that the title of this release is literal. The Story of Moses really is a musical rendering of the biblical/Talmudic story of Moses. Brother Blue (a self-appointed storyteller who has been holding forth on streetcorners in Cambridge, MA for three decades) makes a severely wacked-out Pharoah, sounding more than a little like a mentally incapacitated street person hassling you. Sorry, but his narration is cheesy. I realize that it’s difficult to tell the story of Moses in a modern context and NOT sound cheesy, but I have to tell it like it is. Just because you’re trying something difficult doesn’t mean you should be applauded for succeeding when you haven’t.

The widely disparate genres jostling side by side is kind of funny. But calling The Story of Moses a “masterwork” or “important” is overstating the case to say the least. Pharaoh’s Song is dopey. Hebrew’s Blues is silly, mostly because of Brother Blue. The frantic blues piano (from Bob Moses, no less!) is okay, I guess.

It’s not all bad. Moses Floats Down The Nile is lyrical and it swings. But every time Brother Blue opens his mouth, which is most of the time, given the nature of the project, The Story of Moses is impossible to take seriously.

And he’s not the only problem. The vocals, almost always a problem on jazz releases, don’t really make it, although they’re nowhere as near as awful as they were in the average fusion release from the 70s.

The sections where funk, rock, and big band collide are more successful. Leo Quintero is an effective guitarist in his solos. (It’s a shame that he never really made it in the jazz world.)

But that doesn’t obscure the sad fact that most of The Story of Moses is simply painful to sit through.

So then, why am I telling you about The Story of Moses? Well, Bob Moses is a great drummer, has been directly responsible for at least one free jazz masterpiece (Bittersuite In The Ozone), and is a very good big band arranger and composer to boot. And Pat Metheny says it’s a masterpiece (although at the time his work with his own band was awful). Given the pedigree of The Story of Moses, it deserves to be reviewed.

One thing I’ve got to admit. Bob Moses doesn’t do anything halfway. The Story of Moses is a work of stunning conviction, even if it is woefully wrongheaded.

Sadly, Amazon doesn’t have any song samples available for The Story of Moses, but trust me, there are better ways to spend your precious entertainment dollars.