1980s type jazz-rock fusion you hardly ever hear nowadays. Pity.
That changes.
Produced by Jim Beard, the Steely Dan keys player who left us far too soon this year, as a memorial to his skills Echoes and Other Songs is immaculate.
As for the ex Miles Davis player Mike Stern this takes us back to Sligo 11 years ago when he was playing with Victor Wooten.
Stern long before was on Miles Davis 1980s albums The Man with the Horn, We Want Miles and best of all Star People.
Signature sound
The guitarist has an every bit as much signature sound as other titans of the music.
He is one of the very few players who can - in all sanity beyond cheap hype - be mentioned in the same sentence as Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell and his Star People fellow axeman John Scofield.
But Stern's recording label profile output isn't as prolific as any of those three. And this post-Lockdown, post 55 Bar, statement of considerable pedigree and class sizzles and soars.
Thinking about it Who Let the Cats Out? was probably the last of his records we really enjoyed - Beard was on that slice of joy. It came out in 2006.
This month: check Stern and Leni rip into Hendrix classic 'Red House' live in Tapei on YouTube in the video
Bountiful Bona
The core here has Chris Potter notable with Brad Mehldau this year on Eagle's Point on most of the tracks, Beard on all, Christian McBride either on double bass or bass guitar and Birdman composer the Methenyian sticksman Antonio Sánchez on most of the tracks - the rest have Carlos Santana eminence Dennis Chambers on them. Mike's wife Leni is on ngoni, cult fusion heads percussion icon Arto Tunçboyacıyan figures and Richard Bona ffs - one of the monstrously gifted bass guitarists on the planet is here - but it's his vocal that matters even more. He just about steals the show on Stern original, 'Curtis.'
Long time Stern mucker Bob Franceschini pops up on soprano saxophone a bit and on tenor on a few tracks. His chunky sound is great on the new Robby Ameen album Live at the Poster Museum by the way. You probably missed that record (logic being most top jazz is missed by media obsessed with the pervasive but irrelevant clickbait tat that gets picked to litter a lot of badly curated culture pages instead).
Yup, we love Echoes and Other Songs and aren't afraid to admit it. The reasons in no particular order: the tunes ring out - they make sense as songs and feed in proper improvisational passages.
They also allow for interplay.
Bona's vocal on 'Curtis' is beautiful. Pottering about the great Chris is as brilliant is he usually is especially amid the swampy twangery of 'Crumbles.'
Sanchez' groove on 'Climate' is textbook. We'll add this bluesy gem to our best-of-the-year selection in the next update. Stern makes magic - who couldn't be both moved and exhilarated.
Comentários