Tribal Tech - Scott Henderson/Gary Willis

Dec

18

Tribal Tech - Scott Henderson/Gary Willis

≡ Category: 1990s, Fusion, Recommended, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

For long time fans of Tribal Tech, the title of this release is somewhat confusing. After all, Tribal Tech had been recording as a unit for several years already before this date was released, giving us such efforts as Dr. Hee and Spears.

But never mind. The format of the band behind Tribal Tech (on the Relativity label) is essentially the same as the one Scott Henderson and Gary Willis eventually settled on, starting with the following year’s Illicit date: guitar, bass, drums & keyboards, except that on the release under discussion, they are still using a percussionist, Brad Dutz, a holdover from earlier groups. David Goldblatt is in the keyboard chair and Joey Heredia is the drummer, but it doesn’t much matter. There’s a reason the headliners on Tribal Tech are guitarist Scott Henderson and bassist Gary Willis. It’s their show. They call the shots artistically. The other members of the band are essentially sidemen.

The opening number, Signal Path, is the typical fusion shred-fest we’ve come to expect of Scott Henderson and Gary Willis.

On Big Girl Blues, Henderson changes things up a little. The tune isn’t a blues, strictly speaking, but it drips with blues feeling, particularly in regard to Henderson’s passionate guitar solo. Keyboardist David Goldblatt chooses to follow Henderson in a more soul jazz oriented vein. It’s a useful contrast. Great tune.

We’re back to the same old fusion on Dense Dance, with a heavily harmonized melody.

Now, when I say “same old” when I’m talking about Tribal Tech, it’s not really an insult. In their case, “same old” means intricately arranged tunes with interesting chord progressions, monster grooves and out of control guitar solos. That was kind of par for the course for Tribal Tech before they transitioned to much simpler tunes and a focus on free improvisation on 2000’s Rocket Science date.

Got Tuh Be is yet another fusion tune, but this time bassist Gary Willis is featured. It turns out that he can spin out lightning fast bebop lines as well as anybody, even if his primary function in the Tribal Tech universe is to lay down killer funk grooves.

Fight The Giant, the sole tune written by keyboardist David Goldblatt, is the only other change of pace. The A section is structured as a layered repetition of a sliced and diced harmonized scale. It’s pretty cool — kind of makes my head spin.

Mostly, Tribal Tech isn’t going to harbor a whole lot of surprises for listeners familiar with the work of Scott Henderson and Gary Willis. It’s impeccably played, inventively composed fusion. No, it doesn’t break new ground, but it’s darned good.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a widget for Tribal Tech, but there is one for Primal Tracks, which includes quite a few tracks from the Tribal Tech release.