Gregg Bendian

Derek Bailey & Gregg Bendian - Banter (1995) {OODiscs OO20}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 237 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 143 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1995 OODiscs | OO20
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Guitar / Percussion

It's not easy playing with Derek Bailey. When you're dealing with someone who has spent, at the time of this recording, about 30 years honing his highly idiosyncratic and abstruse method of musical conversation, entering the room for some "banter" must be an unnerving event. Given his numerous duo recordings, the guitarist seems to welcome the opportunity, however, and percussionist Gregg Bendian approaches the meeting with high confidence and an imaginative array of sounds. Unfortunately, he doesn't bring much to challenge Bailey, or at least is unable to move him out of his "standard" routines.

This exciting album, capturing a Brecker Brothers set at New York City’s Bottom Line on March 6, 1976, is an important document for those who feel that fusion ruled. This disc is evidence of the sonic combustion that happened in the mid-’70s when versatile musicians mixed the accessibility of rock arrangements and the deep groove of funk with the harmonic language and improvisation of jazz. The Bottom Line Archive is the only official live release of this lineup of the Brecker Brothers Band: Randy Brecker (trumpet), Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone), Don Grolnick (keyboards), Steve Khan (guitar), Will Lee (bass), Chris Parker (drums) and Sammy Figueroa (percussion). Contributing to three tracks is alto saxophonist David Sanborn, who shows off the chops that would make him a superstar in the ensuing years.

Future Jazz is an interesting teaming of the Blue Note and Knitting Factory labels for a compilation of creative modern jazz (leaning toward the "outside"). The CD serves as a supplement to a book of the same name by music journalist Howard Mandel. The selections all come from 1990s releases, with the exception of Eric Dolphy's classic "Hat and Beard" (1964) and James Newton's rendition of "Black and Tan Fantasy" (1986). Better-known names like Dolphy, Cassandra Wilson, Don Pullen, and Pat Metheny are mixed with names that certainly should be as recognized, like pianist Marilyn Crispell, drummer Gerry Hemingway (both of the mid-'80s Anthony Braxton Quartet lineup), and the late saxophonist Thomas Chapin.

2003 live performance from the Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna co-founder.