When I encountered Stanley Clarke in the jazz section of a large music store, I figured I had better grab one to listen to the man who influenced Victor Wooten. I thought this fairly recent work with other respected jazz musicians would be a good start. Each artist contributes three tracks of his own composition.
I've found it hard to categorize this music. Without percussion, it's not bebop, but there definitely is a improvisation element to it. Yet many of the tracks seem more like compositions than jazz improv. The tracks seem to have all a similar "feel" to them; there is not a great variety of style; again, without the percussion, the differences are subtle.
Each artist has a chance to show his chops, which is curious here because the music has a quiet, introspective quality to it. But it's a challenge to describe the effect. Acoustic shred? Percussionless new-age improv?
This quiet album actually makes very good background music if you are doing something else. Because of that, I've found it hard to actually
listen to the music, which is a bit distressing. I haven't really been able to connect with this music yet. There isn't a danceable-type tune that gets your body movin', nor is there anything really lyrical that stays in your head that makes you want to sing along.
There is an essence of
Shadowfax to the sound of many of these tracks, and one which features the bass reminds me of Paul Winter's
Whales Alive.
This is good, thoughtful music to have in the background if you're doing something else (shortest track is 4:30, longest is 8:30), also very good relaxing sounds to fall asleep to . . . but I'm a little puzzled at how difficult this album is to actually
listen to. Still, it's a good introduction to three jazz artists who are very good at their craft.
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