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A really nice CD with some manifestations of Passport-itis. You may recall how in the 1970s and 1980s we got to know the thinking person's hyperpop-Jazz German quartet Passport through their highly varied LPs on Atlantic Records. Seems the band never |
| landed completely in any one style: Zappa-like 12-tone melodic extensions, pop fluff, high-octane workouts, a smidge of free playing, and some Coltrane-like ballads. And sometimes, all of the above simultaneously. Some critics huffed at the lack of cogency but I say if you're good at a lot of things, 'focus' is an overrated attribute. Witness Jaz-Mobi Project, a floating collective of 7 to 9 musicians (depending on what track you're listening to) largely under the aegis of guitarist Steve Thomas (good taste in instruments there; |
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he's
got an Epiphone hollow-body!), employing tabla-powered Easternmusk-fests
with a Pat Metheny-like tune-around late in the melodic structure
("Breeze on a Bay," in long and radio-friendly versions),
stamping blueses ("Kylies' I and II"), meditative acoustic
run-throughs ("The Gift," "Ponder"), even an
instrumental worthy in its soulful strut of Ray Parker and Raydio
("Looking Up"). Yeah, not the most innovative music you'll
ever hear but comfortable with lots of pleasant surprises anyway. |