js Static music, and/or music as a continuum, may be a somewhat experimental idea in the western world, but in other cultures, particularly African culture, music performance that stays more or less the same from beginning to the middle and on to the end, is par for the course. Avant-garde composers such as John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Steve Reich have produced music that has no particular linear development, and in the jazz world, Miles Davis tried out a fusion approach to static music with albums like “On the Corner” and “Get Up With It”. This leads us to a new Swiss trio known as, divr, with band members, Phillipp Eden on piano, Raphael Walser on bass and Jonas Ruther on drums. These guys are taking a very fresh approach to music making that sets them apart from the field. Their improvisations are not ‘static music’ per se, but are similar in that linear development takes a backseat to thoroughly exploring the present moment.

What divr does is produce musical ideas and then loop them and slowly alter them while carefully interacting with each other. They describe their music as based around ‘sonic interdependencies framed by the practice of mindfulness and deep listening’. Although there is some obvious repetition at work, the music slowly morphs and changes in unpredictable ways. There is some post-production at work on this album, so it may be hard to tell what is exactly being played and what might be looped, but it really doesn’t matter, even if there is some technology involved, everything sounds organically human.

The music itself has a lot of variety to it, "As of Now", sounds like a mid 90s trip-hop track, while "Upeksha" uses interlocking minimalist piano figures that recall Terry Riley. "Supreme Sweetness" gets into some dissonant and very active free jazz and "Tea High" has pounding piano chords on top of a drumnbass type busy rhythm. The last two tracks don’t quite measure up to the rest of the album as they close with a ballad of sorts and some cliché ambient bits, but the rest of the album is top notch. divr do not sound like anyone else, they represent a different approach to music making, an approach that will be lost on many listeners, but will be welcome to those who prefer deep listening and music that expands on the moment rather than anxiously always moving on.

Matti P The second album of the Finnish instrumental rock/fusion group whose name means Tatu & the Explorers. Bassist and co-composer Tatu Back has also drawn the cover art for both albums.

Again the band colours their jazzy rock with hints of various musical genres. The debut had a little more blues flavour. Here 'Löylyn henki' is spiced up with flamenco, and accordion finishes the nature-inspired national-romantic spirit on the relatively emotional, melodic piece 'Vipulampi'. All in all, electric guitar is the "lead" instrument, as Hammond and other keys are mainly filling the overall soundscape.

The shortish opening piece starts with a beautiful, mysterious slowness, two guest musicians playing snare drums gently, and just as the piece sort of comes alive, it ends all too soon. But it's seamlessly followed by the determinant, rockier piece 'Homo Ludens' where the guitar associates with David Gilmour in and out of Pink Floyd. The final minute is a synth-centred spacey outro.

The longest, 11-minute composition is my favourite. The title refers to a plant blooming in midsummer night, but it's deliberately underlining the "magic" connected to the Finnish midsummer night, as fern plants do not bloom in real life. The composition progresses without any hurry and is occasionally milking a bit too long its motifs,but with some shifts in tempo and atmosphere it manages to create a narrative feel. In the end the band members shout together "Lähdetään juhannussaunaan!" (= let's go to midsummer sauna), and the next, flamenco flavoured piece continues the sauna theme in its title.

The final track pulsates almost like an Alan Parsons Project instrumental and has great interplay with Gilmouresque guitar and synths. Also the drums are deliciously strong.

Perhaps the lesser amount of blues flavour makes me prefer this album over the debut. The production is very good, one only wishes the arrangements to contain wider variety.

snobb Israeli trumpeter Avishai Cohen's newest album to date, "Ashes To Gold", contains his five-piece suite of the same title completed with "Adagio Assai” from Maurice Ravel’s Concerto in G major, and the closer “The Seventh", written by Avishai's daughter Amalia. The music is performed by Cohen (who, unusually, plays not only trumpet but the flugelhorn and a lot of flute as well) and his quartet, containing pianist Yonathan Avishai, bassist Barak Mori, and drummer Ziv Ravitz.

The album opens with an almost ten-minute melancholic chamber piece, quite typical for Cohen's previous works. Still, the rest of the Suite is more complex, more adventurous, and less predictable. Cohen's trumpet soloing often flies over the rest of the music, recalling contemporary Polish great trumpeter Tomasz Stanko's works. Still, Cohen is always a bit more intimate, softer, and melancholic.

The "Ashes To Gold" suite was written by Cohen in Israel right after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and recorded there as well in November. Without a doubt, the album's music is heavily influenced by that event. Surprisingly, besides sadness, melancholy, and pain, there is no anger in the music.

Almost eight minutes long, "Adagio Assai", opens with solo trumpet, soon joined by the double bassist. Piano and drums enter bringing some light and hope.

The final piece, “The Seventh”, refers to the beginning of the Israeli-Hamas war date. It's a lyrical song, composed by Cohen's teenage daughter.

Released on the ECM label, possibly the most prestigious one in Europe, the album demonstrates the label's return of sorts to it's roots. Decades ago ECM started their glorious way releasing some more ambitious and experimenting artists of the time. With time, they became high-quality comfortable and extremely safe music producers, possibly the times were too safe as well and required this sort of sound.

Suddenly, the whole world jumped into a period of unexpected turbulence, values crisis, bloody wars, and a future that no one can expect or imagine. As always, the musicians react among the very first. Avishai Cohen's "Ashes To Gold" came in time, and is one great evidence of the moment.

Metatools Released August 30, 2024, the album doesn't seem like her style...especially based on the cover. It was country music overtones and influences. Her vocal ability and range are just okay. She would have been served better to have some writers or producers custom select her tracks.

If you have an ear for music, she baresly misses a few flat or off notes and her vocal control could be much much better. If you like that sort of jazzy-country feel, then this is the album for you, but if you compare her to Jennie Bryson, Ledisi or Kandance Springs...you'd be surely disappointed.

The one silver lining is you can listen to the entire album yourself on bandcamp and judge for yourself.

https://shemekiacopeland.bandcamp.com/album/blame-it-on-eve

snobb Shemekia Copeland is one of the better-known representatives of modern American blues-related music around the globe. Surprisingly, she was announced as the nominee of the prestigious British Jazz FM Awards 2025 in the category, "Blues Act of the Year".

"Blame It On Eve", is Shemekia's last album to date, from the very first minutes it sounds exactly as one can expect from her more modern works. Title-track, the opener, is seriously based on some of the Bible's citations. Still, like almost all Copeland songs, it contains her very own sort of feminist urban blues-rock. Song after song, Shemekia tells everyday life's stories, from a woman's perspective. The regular listener, familiar with Shemekia's back-catalog will find a few new themes here. Still, she sounds as energetic as usual, and the band is very good too.

Musically, of the twelve album songs, there are some rockers, some bluesy r'n'b pieces, and a few ballads too. Traditionally, Shemekia is strong on ballads, never too melancholic or sweetly sad. "Only Miss You All the Time" is one of the best songs here for my ear.

Rockers (like "Broken High Heels") or country-rock-n-roll ("Wine O'Clock") are the least successful songs on the album. The pieces with a strong country feel are not very memorable either. Will Kimbrough plays great heavy metal-like electric guitar solos on " Is There Anybody Up There? ".

In all, "Blame It On Eve" offers a few surprises. For Copeland's fans it is one more strong work from their beloved artist.

FunkFreak75 The debut album from Cracow's leading Jazz-Rock Fusion band.

1. "Narodziny" (10:05) beautiful, lush keys, bass, and cymbal play open this almost like a NOVA Vimana song. Soprano sax joins in to lead us down the country garden path. At the two-minute mark the band reshapes the Deodato-like electric piano lushness into something that sounds more like Klaus Doldinger's PASSPORT. I am in love with the mutually-respectful spaciousness of each individual musician's play: it's as if everyone is so in-tune with the others that they are all playing this game of turn-taking. While I am impressed and enjoying each and every band member's skill and prowess on their respective instruments (as well as the engineering choices to put the bass and electric piano far forward and the drums, sax, and electric guitar [mostly] back) I find myself really attracted to the Elio D'Anna-like melodic choices (and sounds) of Andrzej Olejniczak on his soprano sax (which is very odd as I'm usually quite nauseated by the sound and play of saxophones). (19/20)

2. "Taniec Maryny" (3:30) two bouncy electric piano chords open this one, repeated until guitar, bass, and drums join in after about ten seconds. The production is very warm and inviting while the style is jazzy over a "Smooth Jazz" rock 'n' roll two chord vamp with regular deviations into a bar or two of "chorus" chords. The melodies are often shared, presented by the guitar, sax, and Władysław Sedecki right hand. It's simple and mathematical--like an étude--and yet offered with admirable precision and clarity. (8.875/10)

3. "Bez Powrotu" (2:40) this one is much more aligned with traditional jazz stylings: walking bass, nuanced syncopated drum play, whole-group presentations of melodies in harmonic weaves with electric piano chords bridging the middle ground. (8.75/10)

4. "Podróż w Góry" (3:50) very quiet and delicate electric guitar with rich electric piano support opens this one for the first minute before the guitar, sax, and synthesizer jump out front with a very high-speed motif which gattling gun bass and frenzied drums try to keep up with. The overall sound is quite modern--like the music to an early video game or pinball machine. Impressively disciplined synchrony from the lead instruments with the poor capture of the drum sound making it sound as if Benedykt is having trouble keeping up. (8.875/10)

5. "Siódemka" (6:55) more impressive machine gun whole-group spitting and spraying of harmonically-composed melodies over another rhythm track that sounds and feels very much like the uptempo hard bop jazz of late 1960s. The musicians are each quite impressive with their skill and dexterity, and the melodies are quite clear and, I'm sure, impressive from a jazz and classical music perspective, but this is exactly the kind of pre-fusion jazz that I find myself unable to follow, understand, much less enjoy. The Bob James-like electric piano and jazz guitar solos in the third and fourth minutes, respectively are my favorite part of the song after the impenetrable music of the first two minutes. Then, at 4:31, a fast-tempo Mahavishnu-like motif ensues that is much more funky, spaced and broken up, with short burst solos that are much more accessible and digestible to my puny little brain. This part I love, so I'll not let the first two-and-half minutes spoil what turns out to be quite a great song. (13.625/15)

6. "Szczęśliwy Nieszczęśliwiec" (4:05) built over a very comforting rhythm and harmonically-rich jazz-rock base with more humanely-paced bass, drums, and melodically-sensible this one My favorite song on the album because it is both beautiful but also cuz it allows my the time and space to get inside (and feel comforted by) the music. My favorite song on the album. (9.25/10)

7. "Blues For Everybody" (5:45) piano and jazz guitar open this one with some truly blues-based music as the two dance around and within each other's melodies and chords. The one-minute intro is awesome and then the two lock into a more uptempo and more structured blues motif so that they can each solo off of one another. The two musicians sound very mature, relaxed, and confident--as if they're really enjoying playing off one another. A master class in two-person blues-based jazz very much akin to the stuff Scott Joplin and Django and Stéphane Grappelli did together. (9/10)

8. "Hengalo, Almelo, Deventer" (3:20) what a weird sound the engineer-production team have given to the drums! And they've pretty much isolated the bass from everybody else in the mix as well. As a matter of fact, all of the instruments sound and feel boxed/cordoned off from one another--as if they were each in their own little sound room while the recording was going on. Weird! Makes me wonder if this was a preview of modern music in which the musicians do not even play along side one another, recording their "parts" for their own separate tracks, in the studio while the rest of the band is not even present--all from charts! The musicianship is impressive, as usual, but the overall effect of such separation in the final mix makes me feel as if this is just a presentation of someone's composition as rendered by hired studio musicians--compiled over, perhaps, weeks or months! Me no like! (8.75/10)

A lot of this album feels like a lot of jazz to me: harmonically and confusing, overwhelming, and coming from extremely-highly skilled musicians whose brains live and work in an universe that is totally foreign to me. Obviously, bandleader-guitarist Jarosław Śmietana and his keyboard counterpart Władysław Sedecki have a very special relationship--one that is founded much more in the esoteric domains inhabited by the great jazz musicians--but their impressive play does not always translate into enjoyable music for me.

Total time: 40:10

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of diverse, highly-skilled, but-more jazz-oriented jazz-rock fusion.

FunkFreak75 High quality power J-R Fuse from Yugoslavia. Like a cross between RETURN To FOREVER and FOCUS after Jan Akkerman left.



1. "Svadba" (4:08) intricate multi-motif weave full of surprising shifts and turns and a lot of tension (coming from contrasting scales and melody lines). Very interesting and creative! (9.33333/10)

2. "Galeb" (3:56) a little smoother and more straightforward than the previous song--like a BRAND X song for the first minute, then there is a shift for the piano to lead. Excellent! (9.75/10)

3. "Ciganka" (3:03) perhaps the only weak, schlocky song on the album. (8.66667/10)

4. "Zedj" (3:30) ending with Dimitar Cokorovski's solo: one of his shining moments of glory. (9.25/10)

5. "Fatamorgana" (4:02) syrupy lush music in the vein of Focus Con Proby. (8.875/10)

6. "Cokor ritam" (0:59) a drum solo: A good one. Another shining moment for Dimitar. (4.5/5)

7. "A bila je tako draga" (4:06) Guitarist Arian Dema's electric guitar tone reminds me of Eef Elbers' on Focus Con Proby. Dragisa Sodatovic's keyboard work is definitely smooth and melodic and bass player Vladimir Jankulovski is very adventurous: covering a lot of the fretboard with ease and excellent melodic sense. (8.87510)

8. "Letnja ljubav" (3:25) jumping out to a Sunday drive in the countryside with the top down, Dragisa, Arian, and Valdimir do a remarkable job of holding the melody lines tightly together, each one pulling their weight harmonically and rhythmically--which makes it an absolutely delightful song to listen to. An alternative to the disco beat might have been preferred, but, here we are. (9.25/10)

9. "Vodopad" (2:41) heavy distorted guitars with weird synthesizer bubbles opens this before the band rockets out of the muck with a high speed journey of fire and abandon. Great rock guitar with thick support from Dragisa's multiple keyboards. Vlad and Dimitar are pretty tight, too. (9.25/10)

10. "Jutro i noc" (3:55) Smooth Jazz with a Chick Corea-like Latin foundation and stop-and-go rhythm track. Why Dragisa is mixed so far forward and Arian so far into the back I don't know: to give it that Chick Corea feel? RTF and FOCUS are again strongly felt throughout this wonderful composition. (9.25/10)

11. "Tako treba" (5:50) opening with Mr. Rogers-like electric piano play is not usually a good sign, but the way the band bursts out of the malaise with power and force helps to erase all worries and doubt. At the same time this song more than any other truly feels as if it's Dragisa's--at least until Arian comes out with his high-clipping machine gun in the fourth minute. Dimitar's weakest song. (9/10)

Total Time: 39:35

As John Davies has pointed out, the drummer (and recording of such) is, for me, the weak link cuz the guitarist, bassist, and keyboard operator all deserve superlatives. Dimitar Cokorovski is not bad he's just not up to speed with the others--though, again, part of my dissatisfaction could very well be coming from the way his drums (and particularly his snare) sound/are recorded.

A/five stars; a masterpiece of high-energy virtuosic performances of very interesting and creative compositions.

Moshkiae Gong Flying Teapot 1973

This is the start of the trilogy and story of Zero The Hero, and it is here that Gong becomes the well known band, and its musicians become well known for their work.

It has been thought, for a long time, and not just from more recent listens, that a lot of this material was mostly designed for the stoned mind, rather than the very idea and thoughts that the whole story is really about, which is centered on the Flying Teapot seemingly is emitting some kind of messages to the Pot Head Pixies, from the Plane Gong.

And here, you can see how Gong developed their work, and the addition of Tim Blake and Steve Hillage to the album, makes a huge difference. The music is given a much wider touch, and when you hear the title piece, it's difficult to think that you are not listening to something special, and its touches are really special, as the music develops. And, in reality, this is where the story starts, and is developed from this long piece that develops from a really nice introduction into a rocker towards its end. but in between the slow development of this piece is special and a treat ... as to how different their music was and is from almost anyone around, and with its touches that we might consider similar to the Canterbury Scene that Daevid Allen came from, in the end, Gong translates into something else, that is not just about a jazzy touch here and there ... it's about the story and its sequential work. Have another cup of tea?

And when you hear how the glissando of Daevid's in this piece, it is much more than just a solo instrument as it was seen in the previous album, but it also shows, how valuable and creative they became from the extra material on the previous album, that all of a sudden is not exactly as good, or as well thought out as this material seems to be ... and it is hard to not appreciate the touches and how this piece works itself, and how much of a difference both Tim Blake and Steve Hillage make on this album. I have a few times, just put on the title track from this album, as if nothing else was needed to listen to here ... it is that satisfying. Even if the ending of this is a bit on the weird side ... at least it gives the whole thing some kind of ... touch ... that can not exactly be defined, and at times, it is like it wasn't necessary, but it seems to work fine and leads well into the next part.

The continuation is clarified in the next piece about Zero The Hero, and then the piece that is well known by Gilli Smyth which closes the album. At this point in the story, I think that we might get confused, as to how the Witch's Spell comes into play, but I think that the next piece, the last in the album clarifies it ... sex was a part of the whole story.

This album is one that really shows how Gong became well known. The story itself, is what they played the most in its entirety in their concerts (all three albums plus a piece or two from before), and is somewhat known enough for many of us to suggest that this is a stoned out thing, although I am of the opinion that the drugs would not necessarily be that important given the story and how it comes about.

Some of the musical moments in this album are indeed neat, and special, and a shout out needs to be given to the thoughtfulness of how it was all put together and used, which is a credit to Daevid Allen, but the musicians that went on to work with him and helped define their story is ... excellent, and a rare treat altogether.

A wonderful album, even if we have to think something like it is just a stone head's paradise, which for me is not necessary at all, and it is not likely that some material as shown here can be played so well defined by being stoned. In that sense, there is a lot more here than what the story that Gong seems to have created that it was a stony band, specially as by this time, Daevid was already well known into his Zen thing, which would not allow drugs.

FunkFreak75 Released in September of 1974--the first of three rather gentle, Popol Vuh-like free jazz albums on which Carlos used the term "Devadip" (reputedly meaning in Sanskrit, "the light and lantern of the supreme" or "the eye, the lamp and the light of god") that spiritual guru Sri Chimnoy had given him.

A1. "Guru Sri Chinmoy Aphorism" (1:10) nothing like a professional "om" to open an album!

A2. "Angel Of Air / Angel Of Water" (9:55) had Carlos ever played such clear, sustained, crystalline notes on his electric guitar as he did in the second minute of this song? Bass, harp, orchestra-like cymbal play, and Fender Rhodes piano chords support this for the first four minutes until sax enters to help bring the "Angel of Air" section to a close. The second half has Alice's harp playing more prominently alongside Dave Holland's pacifying bass lines and opposite Carlos' at-first subdued, almost-muted guitar note play. Orchestral strings and Fender Rhodes swirl at both ends of the aural spectrum before Jules Broussard's sax (which sounds more like an alto than the credited soprano) returns. The song's final three minutes, then, unfold as a sparse duet between Carlos and Alice before the bass and strings re-join for the final two. Beautiful and, I'd say, yes, successful in its devotional aspirations. (18/20)

A3. "Bliss: The Eternal Now" (5:32) full orchestra is here central and to this music with Carlos' r/humble and even deferential guitar and Alice's pensive piano feeling almost supportive of, if not reactive to, the strings, etc. I like this very much. (9.25/10)

B1. "Angel Of Sunlight" (14:43) with the presence of the tamboura, cymbals, non-Western scales being played by Carlos and, later, tabla, this one seems to be trying to present itself as a kind of East-West fusion piece--and this was before any of the Shakti or CoDoNa releases, though a couple of years after Collin Walcott's OREGON trio had been trying to make its mark on the East Coast. At the three minute mark the entry of a domineering Dave Holland bass and full-blown drum kit from Jack DeJohnette seems to be trying to steer this song into the clutches of the West but . The entry of a note-bending organ in the ninth minute adds an odd sound that I suppose is trying to emulate the note-bending capacities of the sitar and other Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean instruments. Wild free-form saxophone and Carlos' note-bending banshee-screaming guitar notes join in during the successive minutes sounding more like one of ROBERT FRIPP's free-form KING CRIMSON sessions (think Discipline's "Indiscipline"). With the arrival of the 12-minute mark comes a calming "after the storm" wind down effect. An incredible song of cross-cultural (28.5/30)

B2. "Illuminations" (4:20) Tom Coster's single piano chord opens this one, held and sustained while the orchestra strings, vibrapone, and harp slowly and, eventually, rather-dramatically work their way into the song (between successive piano chord hits). Again, it really feels as if the orchestra is the lead instrument here, even when Carlos' delicate and unassuming guitar lends its very minimal notes. (9/10)

Total time:

Though I would never categorize this album as one of Jazz-Rock Fusion, it is a collection of song performances drawing on both jazz and cinema soundtrack history to express the devotional aspect of its composers and performers.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of some kind of jazz-informed devotional music.

FunkFreak75 Live concert material recorded on May 3 & 4, 1973 while the band was touring in Japan, the "album" was only released on vinyl--as a triple album--in Japan--in May of 1974, in Europe in November of 1975, and the US in June of 1991--this latter version being the one I had access to for my listening experience--which came in the form of two-disc CD format.

CD 1 (58:53) (119.2083333/130 = 91.70) 1. "Going Home" (3:23) warm up, tuning, sound level adjustments,

2. "A-1 Funk" (3:13) continued warmup--especially for the synth player (Tom Coster?) (8/10)

3. "Every Step of the Way" (11:30) the first four minutes are just an extended intro/warmup for this song, it's not until 4:10 that the song becomes recognizable as the great tune from the band's 1972 album, Caravanserai. Then it's magical: a very spirited performance all around. (18.5/20)

4. "Black Magic Woman" (3:38) great bleed from "Every Step of the Way" to this. Weird to hear Leon Thomas' voice in the vocal position: he's so uniquely Leon Thomas! Also weird to hear Doug Rauch's bass playing to sound and feel so mechanical and laid back. I like it better when he feels like he's flying around the stage--as he does a little more with . . . (9.25/10)

5. "Gypsy Queen" (3:57) I can't remember if the album version of this song (from the band's album Abraxas--as are the songs preceding and following it) had the Jimi Hendrix homage riffs from Carlos (from "Third Stone from the Sun"), but I love it. The percussion interplay is awesome--and awesomely recorded and imaged. (9.5/10)

6. "Oye Como Va" (5:47) great with some fun group vocal and percussion performances beneath and between Carlos' screaming guitar leads. (Carlos letting the spirit of his dad's mariachi band flowing through him). Perhaps Doug's subdued bass play was due to his wanting to uphold the sacrosanctity of the originals, but you'd think with these percussionists and Carlos getting so fired up and expressive that it would light a little infectious fire in Doug's playing. Perhaps we just have to wait for the material from Caravanserai and Welcome that he helped to create. Anyway, this is an engaging and spirited song.(9.5/10)

7. "Yours Is the Light" (5:30) a song from Welcome attributed to keyboardist Richard Kermode, it's very melodic and smooth--perfect for every one to just groove to--especially the percussionists. Finally we get to hear the loose, engaged, and fully-expressive bass playing of Doug Rauch. (This alone may end up making this song a favorite from this concert album.) Also due to the excellent electric piano play. So smooth and hypnotic! (9.75/10) 8. "Batuka" (0:55) a percusssion jam interlude/bridge (that probably went on longer than what we've been given to hear here). (4.5/5)

9. "Xibaba" (4:13) another cover of the Airto Moreira composition that was first presented to the world on Donald Byrd's 1970 album, Electric Byrd (on which Airto was a contributing studio musician). (I've always thought that the main melody of this song sounded like it was borrowed from a television or radio advertizing jingle of the day--or vice versa.) (9/10)

10. "Stone Flower (introduction)" (1:14) (4.375/5)

11. "Waiting" (4:14) I've always adored this song ever since I first heard it as the opening song on Santana's debut album: great whole band "introduction" jam. I wish Carlos' guitar tone was a little more aligned with those of more traditional rhythm guitarists of the time: his is a little loud--plus, I don't really think he's very good as a rhythm guitarist: he's a melody-maker not an accent provider or rhythm sectionist, but, this awkwardness is resolved with A) some great organ play and B) the transition into the next song. (9/10)

12. "Castillos de Arena, Part 1 (Sand Castle)" (2:51) on which he returns to his natural place and role as the front man: making his melodies and making women's nipples erect. The song's second half sounds as if everybody has suddenly shifted into MAHAVISHNU mode! It's wild, crazy, cacophonous, and chaotic but AWESOME! (9.5/10)

13. "Free Angela" (4:26) a song credited to "Bayeté" (keyboard player Todd Cochran). It starts out rather dynamically but then quiets down into something befitting a Herbie Hancock Mwandishi-lineup song. (I wonder if the song is politically-motivated--perhaps expressing some dismay at the treatment and arrest of Black Panther members like Angela Davis.) (9/10)

14. "Samba de Sausalito" (4:02) another great whole band Latin jam with some serious jazz-rock fusion roots. It was composed by percussionist Chepito Areas and recorded for the Welcome album. (9.333/10)

CD 2 (59:47) (113/125 = 90.40) 15. "Mantra" (7:17) opening with heavily-treated/effected/distorted percussion and keyboard sounds played as if in a Gamelan percussion orchestra, Doug and Michael join in after a bout 90-seconds, pushing the "oriental" percussionists back into rock mode as the two organists join in, weaving together an interesting and enjoyable tapestry between the rhythm section and the impending lead instrument. I know both Richard and Tom are soloing, they're just doing it so smoothly, so subtly, that it all falls into place among the rhythm section's hypnotic groove. At the very end of the fifth minute Carlos finally enters, using a minor key scale to explore a tension-filled melody. Here you can really tell how much John McLaughlin's pyrotechnical guitar playing style has affected Carlos. It's good! It's all good (no matter how improvisational it may be.) Surprising that this song appeared as a polished version on Welcome. (13.25/15)

16. "Kyoto" (9:58) Michael Shrieve's drum solo! Having the engineering imaging panning the sonic field is helpful in making it entertaining in the same way it would have been if I had been standing in front of the drums during the concert. Percussionists add subtle accents from a variety of odd instruments during Michael's trance-like performance. It's actually really good! Like sitting in on a very listenable drum exhibition. (I normally don't like drum solos very much.) Tom Coster joins Michael in the second half of the allotted time on an "alien" synthesized electric piano. (18.25/20)

17. "Castillos de Arena, Part 2 (Sand Castle)" (1:13) bleeding over from Micheal's drum solo to start another part of Carlos & company's Mahavishnu-ed jazz-rock fusion. (4.5/5)

18. "Incident at Neshabur" (15:57) using a two-chord blues-rock vamp to build over, this one sounds like something from BLIND FAITH or BRIAN AUGER, only more Latinized from Santana's percussion-rich ensemble. Again we get to hear some of Doug Rauch, Richard Kermode, and Tom Coster's adventurous spirits spilling over into the rhythm section's support of Carlos--who, in the meantime, is soloing dynamically while pleasantly sneaking a few well-known melodies and riffs into his lead performance, including "My Favorite Things," a little Chuck Berry, Jeff Beck, and many others that were probably lost on me. Expanded in the version I get to hear to triple the original 4:53 length on Abraxas, the original six-sided three-disc Japanese release from 1974 is over 17-minutes in length. By the time the eighth minute has rolled around it has become a sleepy, spacious place over which Carlos has even more unrestricted freedom to replicate some of his more favorite melodies--many of which are familiar to the lovers of his more iconic lead guitar songs--especially those from Caravanserai, but also some more from other artists. I must admit that this must have been a very fun--and entertaining--song to listen to as one of the concert attendees: listening, waiting, to see if you can guess the source of the artists' melody lines or riffs. By the end of the eleventh minute the song has re-ramped up to full speed, full participation of all band members--most of them flying at full speed with virtuous near-reckless abandon. Carlos's re-entry at 12:25 commands a "stop and make space" response from the other musicians. He then proceeds to fill the speakers with some long, slowly held and progressed notes while the rest of the band provides one of those "end of rock song" finishes--only this one prolonged over two and a half minutes. Still, I like this song very much: great entertainment for a live audience--especially a musically-aware audience. (27/30)

19. "Se a Cabo" (5:39) back to Abraxas, which was, at the time, the band's biggest selling album worldwide. Though it's a two-chord Latin vamp, Doug and the rest of the rhythm section feel very engaged and locked in. (8.875/10)

20. "Samba Pa Ti" (8:56) It seems as if everyone gets a chance to solo on this one. Too bad the mix and imaging of the instrumental stage isn't rendered more distinctly so that each and every instrument is clearly and cleanly distinguished from the others. The fans seem to love Carlos' "teasing" extended delay-pauses that he uses during the middle over the smooth dance grooves provided by the locked in band. (17.75/20)

21. "Mr. Udo" (3:07) a variation (or pre-version) of "Savor" that the band delivers with a very Japanese-sounding start (but then find it quickly devolve into another Latin-dominated tune) over which the real Leon Thomas sings using his full complement of vocal idiosyncracies (wordless vocal "noises"). (8.875/10)

22. "Toussaint L'Overture" (7:40) The only song representing the Santana III album! (Perhaps because the band was disintegrating at the time Santana III was being made.) Lots of great percussion play from the Latin ensemble and some very loud JIMI HENDRIX-like guitar shredding from over this four-chord "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"-like song. Awesome! Perhaps it was even intended as a tribute to the late great guitar god. (14.5/15)

Total Time 118:40 (113 + 119.2083333 /255 = 91.06)

The first 18 minutes of Side One sounds totally like warmup and a space-jam of the sort that Stomu Yamash'ta would exploit in his upcoming (1976) Go Live in Paris album. Also, I don't know if other listeners had this experience, but I found the sound quality and imagery on the entire second CD disc to be thinner and flatter than that of the first disc--with all of the instruments (except Carlos' guitars) mixed further into a flat background than the wonderfully three-dimensional feel of the first disc.

This album opportunity seemed like it could have been the perfect vehicle to hear the genius of bass phenom Doug Rauch at play but I have to say that his performances mostly felt subdued, reigned in, and less than enthusiastic--very tight and professional but totally lacking any of the flash and flare that I thought (and hoped) I'd hear.

A-/five stars; a very nice recording of a fan-pleasing concert that represents fairly well the free-wheeling jazz-tinged period of Santana's career. Though I'm not a fan of live albums, this one does a pretty good job of capturing some of the energy and entertainment value of the Jazz-Rock Fusion period of Santana.