GARY BARTZ — Gary Bartz & Maisha : Night Dreamer Direct-To-Disc Sessions (review)

GARY BARTZ — Gary Bartz & Maisha : Night Dreamer Direct-To-Disc Sessions album cover Album · 2020 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
snobb
Sax player Gary Bartz was a celebrity of sorts half-a-century ago when he played on the forefront of the then young American fusion and post bop scene. Seasoned veteran doesn't record too often but still is active today.

Maisha is a fashionable British African fusion band, playing relaxed and sunny-bright music around burgeoning London scenes. Combination of the two is presented on "Night Dreamer" - vinyl-size long album, recorded in 'popular in 80's' direct-to-disc techniques in Dutch Haarlem (not American Harlem).

Starting from the opener, "Harlem - Haarlem", the listener can enjoy the usual Maisha sound, just less relaxed, better framed and more energized. Or - Bartz's fusion, made from Maisha's African influenced jazz. To be honest, "Maisha featuring Gary Bartz" would be a better tag to this album than tagging it as Gary Bartz's album as leader as the album is currently titled.

The sound is great, Bartz sounds warm and soulful and the music is positive and comfortable in general, but quite soon one can feel like you are listening to just one long song. Repetitive rhythms with no striking tempo, rhythm or tonal changes make this short album sound a bit like a long live jam without any specific direction. Some short pieces can be accepted as nice examples of modern revitalization of fusion from the early 70s, but unfortunately, in full it doesn't work as well.

Here we have two great artists coming together to sound much like musical wall paper, it isn't what one would expect from such a collaboration.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Martin Archer & Walt Shaw : Biyartabiyu Avant-Garde Jazz
MARTIN ARCHER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Meet The Graingers Pop/Art Song/Folk
NATE NAJAR
Buy this album from MMA partners
Full Throttle RnB
GERALD ALBRIGHT
Buy this album from MMA partners
Ancestral Numbers I 21st Century Modern
JASON ROBINSON
Buy this album from MMA partners
Modern Standards Fusion
BILL EVANS (SAX)
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Jean-Pierre (feat. Darryl Jones)
BILL EVANS (SAX)
snobb· 8 hours ago
Magic Box
CHRISTOPHE MARGUET
snobb· 8 hours ago
The Peacocks
ANTOINE DRYE
js· 13 hours ago
??·??·?·???·?·????
SADAO WATANABE
snobb· 1 day ago
"Miles Between" // by Shawn Schlogel & Nancy Erickson Lamont
NANCY ERICKSON LAMONT
js· 2 days ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed