My review of guitarist Steve Khan's paradigm-shifting Eyewitness Trilogy, published today at All About Jazz.
Emerging on the New York scene in the mid-1970s, guitarist Steve Khan didn't long at all to develop a strong reputation as both chameleon-like session guitarist--comfortably crossing over from the jazz world into pop and rock and gracing albums by artists ranging from Esther Phillips, Freddie Hubbard and David Sanborn to Phoebe Snow, Billy Joel and Steely Dan--and valued member of the Brecker Brothers Band, playing on the seminal uptown group's sophomore effort, 1976's Back to Back, as well as 1977's Don't Stop the Music, both on Arista Records. Before long he was signed as a solo artist by Columbia Records, releasing three albums that, while intersecting stylistically with the Breckers' more funkified music, placed his sharp-toned Fender Telecaster--blues-inflected but with a more sophisticated harmonic bent that made him instantly recognizable--front and center.
Still, while the three albums Khan made for Columbia--1977's Tightrope, 1978's The Blue Man and 1979's Arrows--remain compelling on the two-disc 2015 BGO complication that brought these three albums back into print internationally for the first time in many years, by 1980, with the release of Khan's groundbreaking Arista debut, Evidence, it was clear that change was in the air. Khan's Columbia recordings were all exceptional recordings, but they were also, to some extent, obvious albums, where Khan's attention-grabbing writing laid the foundation for some aggressive, fusion-centric soloing that, clearly for the guitarist, had a limited shelf-life.
Evidence, on the other hand, was a true solo album, where Khan layered guitar upon guitar (upon guitar) in a setlist consisting completely of other peoples' writing. The first side of the original vinyl release collected compositions--some well-known, others more obscure--by jazz luminaries including Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver and his previous employer, Randy Brecker. But it was the second side, an 18-minute medley of music by renegade composer/pianist Thelonious Monk, that was the knockout punch on a record that, from start to finish, demonstrated greater breadth--texturally, harmonically and conceptually--than any of Khan's previous recordings...and despite his more reductionist approach. More in service of the song than ever before, Khan also demonstrated greater attention to space and the idea that less can, indeed, oftentimes be more.
These changes were all the beginning of a paradigm shift for Khan, but it was with his next three albums, all featuring the same lineup, that the guitarist truly honed these changes as a guitarist and composer with the precision of a fine sculptor, but this time in the context of an empathic quartet featuring bassist Anthony Jackson, drummer Steve Jordan and ex-Weather Report percussionist Manolo Badrena.
Continue reading here...
Bookmarks