Double Diamond is the sixth album by British jazz-rock group If and the second to be issued in the U.S. on the Metromedia Records label. With only Dick Morrissey left from the original band, the new line-up featured Fi Trench (keyboards) and Pete Arnesen (keyboards), Steve Rosenthal (guitar/lead vocals), Kurt Palomaki (bass) and Cliff Davies (drums)…
If's last studio album isn't as good as their first albums. After many line-up changes, the band slowly changed their musical direction to more straightforward blues-soul-rock…
Following the controversial innovations of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew and A Tribute to Jack Johnson, fusion spun off in myriad directions, some far more creatively rewarding than others. This entry in the ongoing Jazz Club compilation brings together 11 choice cuts from the Verve vaults series for an admirable if erratic attempt to encapsulate an era that defies simple definition or interpretation. The title Jazz Rock fails to account for the sheer multitude of sounds and styles the disc embraces, veering from cosmic funk to psychedelic soul. The best performances approach the complexity of classical music as well as the mainstream appeal of soul, but at worst the music is unfocused and maddeningly self-indulgent. Highlights include George Duke's "Old Slippers," Don Sebesky's "The Word," and Tony Williams' "Emergency".
If3 continues in the same jazz-rock vein as its predecessors, with strong solo work from reedmen Dave Quincy and Dick Morrissey, and the unique fretwork of fleet-fingered guitarist Terry Smith. The material is more pop-oriented than on the band's previous releases, but it's the jazz chops of the players that place this album a notch or two above those of the other bands working this genre in the early 1970s.
If3 continues in the same jazz-rock vein as its predecessors, with strong solo work from reedmen Dave Quincy and Dick Morrissey, and the unique fretwork of fleet-fingered guitarist Terry Smith. The material is more pop-oriented than on the band's previous releases, but it's the jazz chops of the players that place this album a notch or two above those of the other bands working this genre in the early 1970s.
If's last studio album isn't as good as their first albums. After many line-up changes, the band slowly changed their musical direction to more straightforward blues-soul-rock…