ART FARMER — Art Farmer with Joe Henderson ‎: Yama (review)

ART FARMER — Art Farmer with Joe Henderson ‎: Yama album cover Album · 1979 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
FunkFreak75
After years of resisting the Jazz-Rock Fusion bug--remaining steadfastly loyal to the Post Bop world--Art teams up with an all-star group of J-R Fuse veterans to produce a wonderful contribution to JRF's Fourth Wave

A1. "Dulzura" (8:21) Nice melodies and keyboard and drum support of a Smooth Jazz tune that was originally composed by Clare Fischer. In my opinion, bassist Will Lee tries a bit to hard to emulate (or "be") JACO PASTORIUS. (17.75/20)

A2. "Stop (Think Again)" (6:48) awesome Latin Jazz-Rock Fusion: lively and spiced with great performances from top to bottom. And, believe it or not, this is cover of a BEE GEES composition! (14/15)

B1. "Young And Fine" (6:43) a bluesy, wee-hours-of-the-early-morn cover of a Joe Zawinul song. Art's muted flugelhorn and Mike Mainieri's vibraphone fit really nicely into the tender fabric created by the rest of the band. (9.3333/10)

B2. "Lotus Blossom" (8:23) this one is composed by the band's own Don Grolnick. It unfolds and flows rather quickly, sounding a lot like something transitional between sophisticated (big band) jazz and the future wave of Smooth Jazz. I like the key role that Mike Mainieri's vibraphone chords play beneath Art and Joe's solos. Will Lee's rolling jazz bass still sounds a little like "baby Jaco" but it's mixed low enough in the mix to not distract--until, that is, the fifth minute when for whatever reason someone in the production booth decided that the volume on his bass track should suddenly be turned way up! (17.75/20)

B3. "Blue Montreux" (6:58) a snappy, easy to engage with Yacht Rock tune--credited to Mike Mainieri. Probably my favorite song on the album: It's just too hard to get out of your brain once you've heard it--and that's even before you've been exposed to the "borrowed" melodic hooks from recent pop songs (like EARTH, WIND & FIRE's "Can't Hide Love"). (14/15)

Total time: 33:01

Nice melodic Fourth Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion with the most notable elements being Will Lee's attempt to sound like JACO PASTORIUS. Too much.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of high-quality Fourth Wave (pre-Smooth Jazz) Jazz-Rock Fusion.

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