js It is interesting to note how many busy session musicians and sidemen finally had time to record a long awaited album as a leader during the pandemic lockdowns. Bassist Dewayne Pate is one of those artists, and his new album, “On the Upside”, is his first album as a leader in fourteen long years, but it has been well worth the wait because this is a star studded opus with dynamic production and hot performances to boot. Dewayne usually spends his time as a first call session and tour guy and has worked with Arturo Sandoval, Huey Lewis, Boz Scaggs, Tower of Power, Robben Ford and many more. In his session work he bumps shoulders with top names in the music world, so it was not hard for him to make some calls and bring on some real heavies for this album.

Overall one could call this a fusion album, but it is very eclectic with detours into Latin Jazz, blues, funk and vocal ballads. Album opener “4 the 5 of it” is in 5/4 time of course and carries a Weather Report resemblance, especially in the very Wayne Shorter sounding soprano sax work of Norbert Stachal. “Blues Ala Monmouth” is swinging bluesy horn section driven and soaked in Hammond B3 soul jazz with the king of jazz-blues, Robben Ford, leading the way on guitar. “People Get Ready” has been recorded many times, but Dewayne’s upbeat version with only himself on bass and Amikaeyla Gaston on vocals and Karl Perazzo on percussion is far less heavy-handed than most versions that you may have heard before. “Ellen” is a guitar instrumental ballad that has Stef Burns channeling Jeff Beck during the melody, but leaning more towards Carlos Santana during the ride out soloing. But wait, there’s more, so much more that we won’t cover it all here, but it is worth mentioning that Dennis Chambers shows up on two tracks to deliver his outstanding drum chops. Finally, the production on here is excellent. it’s a big bright full spectrum digital sound which can sound great on albums like this that lean in an electronic direction.