The Unspoken Word

The first album from this Long Island-based ensemble was a tuneful and ambitious collection of psychedelic folk-rock tricked out with polished harmonies and arrangements featuring elaborate horn and string charts. If anything, Tuesday, April 19 often sounds a bit too elaborate for its own good; the arrangements certainly reflect the trippy, philosophic bent of Gene Stashuk's lyrics (which also suggest a Christian undertow), but fairly often they also tend to overpower them, and on these sessions the Unspoken Word sound more like a studio project than an organic group with a personality of its own. The irony is this has a great deal to do with the precision with which the Unspoken Word play their music; Angus MacMaster's keyboard work is especially impressive, with a striking dynamic sense, and vocalist Dede Puma would have done any number of Broadway musicals proud with her rich, expertly modulated instrument…

Chico Freeman & Arthur Blythe - Luminous and The Unspoken Word: Live at Ronnie Scott's (2000) {Carlsberg JHDE204 rec 1989-1993}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 807 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 335 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 10 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1989-93, 2000 Ronnie Scott's Jazz House / Carlsberg | JHDE 204
Jazz / Post Bop / Mainstream Jazz / Saxophone

I bought this twoffer after I got acquainted with the music and playing of A Blythe. I'm glad I did. Both discs are documents of some very fine playing by all of the musicians that took part in the gigs recorded at the Ronny Scott's on two separate occassions some twenty or so years ago. The playing is immaculate and the sound superb. If you've been to the club you'll know that the interior is acoustically very well treated and that more than pays off here. There is not a grain of digital harshness in the sound, all is very 'analogue' and that really compliments the music and the atmosphere.