On paper, this CD should be nothing short of perfect. Steve Grossman (tenor) and Gene Perla (bass) had recently toured with the Elvin Jones tour that produced the essential Live at the Lighthouse sessions. Jan Hammer (keyboards) had recently played with the Mahavishnu orchestra and Don Alias (drums) — well, he’s Don Alias. All incredible musicians, all at the height of their considerable powers. So why doesn’t this CD get five out of five stars?
Well, for one thing, coming from such a group of master composers, the songs are a little disappointing. They are little more than a clothesline for the musicians to hang their improvisations on. But boy, can they wail.
Grossman lays out the minimalist melodies laconically, making it all the more startling when he tears into the improvisations like a starving tiger into raw meat. Hammer takes a more intellectual approach, improvising around the tonality of the piece with altered pentatonic lines. When he’s not soloing, Hammer feeds Grossman sick harmonic ideas. Together, they’re monstrous.
The rhythm section totally kicks ass too, just as much as you would expect. As I said before, the song structures are simple, mostly consisting of vamps on one or two chords, but with Perla providing a swinging and confident bottom, Hammer coming up with all sorts of creative rhythmic comping, and Alias all but setting his drum kit on fire, it all adds up to more than you would think. Still, I was hoping for musicial structures that were a little more complex for these musicians to dig into.
But I’m being ungrateful. Jan Hammer and Steve Grossman are a match made in hardcore fusion heaven. And we only have this release and Terra Firma to document this awesome group. If you care at all about hardcore fusion, secure these CDs at all costs and don’t even think about letting someone borrow them.
By the way, an expanded version of this group made several recordings as the Stone Alliance for PM records. Maybe some day the record company execs will pull their collective heads out of their asses long enough to release these recordings on CD.
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