donn@sdchema.UUCP (Donn Seeley) (11/18/83)
SCENARIO. Al DiMeola with Jan Hammer, Bill Bruford, Tony Levin, Phil Collins. Columbia, FC38944. I stopped listening to Al DiMeola several albums back. My feeling then was that while DiMeola is an extremely capable guitarist, he is not a particularly inspired soloist and only erratically interesting as a composer; I have heard complaints that the usual DiMeola album contains perhaps enough successful material for half of a good album. But DiMeola's new album SCENARIO looked interesting and I took a chance on buying it. I think the chance paid off -- I've found myself playing this album quite a lot. Despite the English rockers listed as band members (Bruford and Levin are members of King Crimson, and everyone knows Phil Collins from Genesis), the album is basically a set of duets between Hammer and DiMeola. The tunes range from rock to pop to mildly jazzy, and come with heavy guitar and synthesizer overdubs. The effect of a band-without-a-band is created with the Fairlight synthesizer, some sequencers and some very good drum synthesizers and usually comes off well, although the sole piece which features Bruford and Levin with live bass and drums is (I think) even better -- I would have liked to see more from that ensemble (next album?). The best piece on the album is also non-synthetic: the title track 'Scenario' is a very pretty duet between acoustic guitar and piano with some light brushes with the Fairlight -- exquisite. 'Calliope', the piece featuring Bruford and Levin, sounds a bit like King Crimson with its ostinato stick bass, weaving guitar patterns and irregular meter. I really like that stick bass sound -- I hope DiMeola sticks with it. 'Mata Hari' and 'Cachaca' have deft bits of improvisation and airy melodies. Some disappointing tracks: 'Island Dreamer' wastes Phil Collins on sequencer Muzak, and 'Scoundrel' is just an excuse to play banal rock 'n' roll. An aside -- I saw Al DiMeola's acoustic trio (with John McLaughlin and Paco De Lucia) in concert recently, and the player I was most impressed with was -- Steve Morse! Morse as the 'guest' guitarist was so good that he was overshadowing the trio; while the trio spent most of its time trading solo opportunities back and forth, so that the players could show off just how fast they could play, Morse's introductory set simply attempted to be musical, and this turned out to be very refreshing. I have to admit that I don't really like the obnoxious fuzz guitar that Morse frequently plays on Dregs albums, but if he produced an album of 'acoustic' solos like these I would snap it up. DiMeola was savaged by a reviewer in the local paper who didn't appreciate the percussive, muffled notes that DiMeola likes to put in his solos, but I enjoy them and I thought that of the trio members, Al was the most interesting. (I am a little biased -- I thought McLaughlin and De Lucia desecrated Gismonti's 'Frevo' (Argh! Will Gismonti ever tour?); also I had to sit behind a row of Mexicans who stood on their seats and screamed 'AY, PACO!' whenever it was their hero's turn to solo...) The piece that was the most fun was the encore, which included Morse in a guitar quartet and was played faster and faster until it was so ridiculous it was funny. Morse and DiMeola got some laughs when Steve picked out a little blues during his turn to solo while Al gestured as though to say, 'Listen to this kid!' OREGON. Oregon: Ralph Towner, Paul McCandless, Glen Moore, Collin Walcott. ECM 1258. Oregon has finally gone over to the ECM label. They have also gone over to the synthesizer: Ralph Towner plays the Prophet 5 on every track on the new album. The result is the same but different; Oregon has always sounded exotic, and now their music sounds more exotic than ever. That is not to say that their experiments with the synthesizer are entirely successful. Ralph Towner's album BLUE SUN is a solo effort in which all the carefully composed tracks are overdubbed with synthesizers and other instruments to create a crisp-sounding whole; but the synthesizer fails to contribute a distinctive voice when it is overdubbed onto the extended group improvisations which Oregon is so fond of, and it mainly serves to distract on this album where fully half of the tracks are done by locking the group in a room with a set of instruments and leaving the tape turned on. 'Taos' is the only one of these pieces that I really like. The 'composed' (notice the quotes) tracks are more successful. 'The Rapids' is a pretty Towner vehicle with a solid structure; 'Beside a Brook' by McCandless is a beautiful ballad; and Moore's 'Impending Bloom' is a peculiar Nth-world piece with a firm rhythm and a lyrical synthesizer. This is not a good album to buy if you're just getting acquainted with Oregon (try, say, OUT OF THE WOODS instead) but true Oregon fans will still enjoy it. INVITATION. Jaco Pastorius and the Word of Mouth Big Band, live in Japan. Warner Bros. 23876-1. In case you haven't heard, Word of Mouth is the name of bassist Jaco Pastorius's new band. It includes another Weather Report alumnus, drummer Peter Erskine, together with Don Alias on percussion, Randy Brecker at trumpet, Bobby Mintzer on sax and Othello Molineaux on steel drums, with special guest Jean 'Toots' Thielemans on harmonica and a cast of thousands on various horns and wind instruments (including Oregon's Paul McCandless). Pastorius' band is a real 'big band', and for someone who wasn't raised on the 'big band' sound, this album sounds pretty good. It is perhaps unusual in that it features no piano or guitar, and is conducted by a bassist who enjoys soloing, and has a curious atmosphere created by the harmonica and the steel drums, which were a stroke of genius. The tune that really shows this combination off well is Pastorius's lively piece 'Liberty City': it is just really jazzy, in the best sense of the word. 'Invitation' is another tune like 'Liberty City', but with its own character; 'Amerika' is Pastorius's twist on an old standard, while 'Continuum' has a long, nicely balanced bass solo. 'Fannie Mae' is the blues, and 'Sophisticated Lady' and 'Giant Steps' are different kinds of jazz. I suppose this album is no news to the people who have liked this kind of music for years, but if you haven't tried it, this album can help you listen to 'big band' in a new way. Pastorius and Word of Mouth are playing here tonight in San Diego, and I never got around to buying tickets -- I suppose it's too late now... Donn Seeley UCSD Chemistry Dept. RRCF ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdchema!donn 32 52' 30"N 117 14' 25"W (619) 452-4016 sdcsvax!sdchema!donn@noscvax