Eric Marienthal Street Dance 199

Jeff Lorber shows us this magnificent production with a star of the saxophone as is Eric Marienthal. A fresh, powerful and dynamic cd with excellent arrangements. A cd with lot of life. Marienthal always intense and the recording is enriched with the vocal participation of Leroy Ousborne, Eric Jordan and Jeff Pescetto, Super singers.

In 1991, Eric decided to call upon two musicians whom he had always wanted to work with, Jeff Lorber and Russell Ferrante of the Yellowjackets, to write with and produce his “Oasis” CD. It ended up being a great collaboration and one of Eric's most successful records. It made it into the top 5 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts and 2 of the tunes made it into the top 10 of the National Contemporary Jazz Radio Charts. Eric went on to record two more records for GRP; “One Touch” and “Street Dance”, both produced by Jeff Lorber.

Altoist Eric Marienthal (who is also heard on tenor, soprano and baritone) plays well throughout One Touch but he is the only reason to acquire this disc. The backup, which includes keyboardist-producer Jeff Lorber, a few vocalists and guest appearances from pianist David Benoit and bassist John Patitucci, is mostly pretty anonymous. The originals are forgettable and usually fade out when the music gets too heated. With all of the selections clocking in between three-and-a-half and almost five minutes, potential radio airplay was obviously the main purpose behind the music, which is consistently commercial, accessible, mildly soulful and very predictable. At best, One Touch succeeds as background music but a close listen will frustrate listeners who know that Eric Marienthal is capable of much more.

Eric Marienthal has always had limitless potential. Primarily known as an altoist but also an excellent player on tenor and soprano, Marienthal came to fame with Chick Corea's Elektric Band and tends to sound at his best when teamed with players of that caliber. Many of his own projects suffer from overproduction, a lack of spontaneity and commercial material, but that is not true of Crossroads. In groups ranging from quartets to sextets, Marienthal is challenged by the material (all group originals), matching wits with the likes of keyboardist Russell Ferrante (from the Yellowjackets), bassist John Patitucci and, on three selections, Chick Corea. Crossroads contains some of Eric Marienthal's finest playing outside of the context of the Elektric Band.

Saxophonist Eric Marienthal is among contemporary jazz's busiest talents. On the day that It's Love was released, Marienthal also played a starring role on the Jeff Lorber Fusion entry Galaxy. The two albums reflect Marienthal's varied talents, as both a creative improviser and a lover of groove-oriented popular music. It's Love was produced by guitarist Chuck Loeb, who also appears throughout the set. Also in this studio band are Yellowjackets' keyboardist Russell Ferrante, drummer Gary Novak, and bassist Tim Lefebvre.

“The duo of multi-GRAMMY Award winners Randy Brecker and Eric Marienthal blurs the boundaries between traditional and contemporary jazz on Double Dealin’. While the trumpeter/flugelhornist and the saxophonist have played together in the past, this is their first co-led recording. It features ten thrilling original tracks as well as keyboardist George Whitty, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Dave Weckl.”