Points Unknown

POINTS OF VIEW, the title of his first solo album in ten years (and first since leaving Santana in 2016), perfectly reflects the great array of influences and the freewheeling playing and stylistic approach he brings to a wide range of classic pieces while leading an ensemble of fellow Bay Area greats in addition to legendary featured guests, drummer DENNIS CHAMBERS and saxophonist AZAR LAWRENCE…

The title of this disc is somewhat misleading, as there is very little music on it originally composed by Shostakovich. The Overture (Entr’Acte) to Poor Columbus was written by Shostakovich at the behest of Soviet officials to add the appropriate political “spin” to Ervin Dressel’s opera. It’s in the chaotic style of the Russian master’s other theater works of the period, notably The Nose and The Bolt. Cut from the same stylistic cloth are the Two Preludes of 1920, orchestrated by Alfred Schnittke to sound nearly as if written by Shostakovich himself.