Tribal Tech - 1993 "Face First"

Face First is the sixth album by jazz fusion band Tribal Tech. It was released in 1993. The album is more improvisational than the band's previous works, and features elements of funk, bop and blues. "Boat Gig" is the only track on the album that contains singing, with vocals by drummer Kirk Covington.

Guitarist Scott Henderson and bassist Gary Willis, known as Tribal Tech (the renegade rock/jazz/fusion warriors) are back with the release of their 1993 album, entitled "Face First". Equally adapt at recalling Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix, the band successfully bridges the gap between jazz and rock, blending elements of entities such as Weather Report, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Frank Zappa and Return To Forever, while simultaneously expanding the dimensions of jazz. Scott Henderson (also known for his work with the Chick Corea Elektric Band and The Zawinul Syndicate) is generally admired as one of the most exciting fusion guitarists in the world today. Gary Willis first made a name for himself in the bands of Wayne Shorter and Allan Holdsworth. Incredibly tasteful phrasing and standout guitar playing dominate "Face First", and interestingly, in a somewhat bizarre move, the band dedicated the song "Boat Gig" to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King.

Although it was their sixth album overall, Tribal Tech's 1993 release, Face First, was only the second to feature the still-existing lineup of guitarist Scott Henderson, bassist Gary Willis, keyboardist Scott Kinsey, and drummer Kirk Covington. Previously, Henderson and Willis had juggled lineups and eased further away from traditional jazz toward improvisational fusion through the 1985-1991 albums Spears, Dr. Hee, Nomad, and Tribal Tech. But the quartet of musical leftists gelled on Face First, improving on its promising 1992 debut, Illicit. Henderson's solo on the opening title track -- over a percolating Willis bassline -- shows the guitarist's range of influences from Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix to Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Funk pieces like "Canine" and "Uh...Yeah OK" show glimpses of the group's future, all-improvised CDs; hummingbird-quick drummer Covington's lead vocal on the cover-band farce "Boat Gig" set the stage for Henderson"'s solo blues debut the next year. In between, synth-master Kinsey's jazzy "After Hours" and Henderson's New Orleans-tinged "Revenge Stew" provide thought-provoking rest areas -- necessary because of breathtaking ten-minute thrill rides like the blues, bop, and beyond of "Salt Lick." Willis' Weather Report-like "The Precipice" and "Wounded" ease you to the finish of Face First, the album that made a statement that Henderson, Willis, and company have not yet begun to finish.

Track listing:

01.    "Face First"    7:04
02.    "Canine"    6:24
03.    "After Hours"    7:23
04.    "Revenge Stew"    6:07
05.    "Salt Lick"    9:45
06.    "Uh... Yeah OK"    6:44
07.    "The Crawling Horror"    7:44
08.    "Boiler Room"    1:35
09.    "Boat Gig"    6:00
10.    "The Precipice"    6:17
11.    "Wounded"    5:39

Personnel:

    Scott Henderson – guitar
    Gary Willis – fretless bass
    Scott Kinsey – keyboards
    Kirk Covington – drums, vocals

Jeff Beck - 2011 "Rock 'N' Roll Party" (Honoring Les Paul)

Rock 'n' Roll Party (Honoring Les Paul) is a live album by Jeff Beck, recorded as a tribute album to the late guitarist Les Paul.

The album is recorded at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City where Les Paul played almost every week until his death in August 2009. It was recorded on 9 June 2010, which would have been Les Paul's 95th birthday. The songs played were popular hits from the 1950s and 1960s, including many songs Les Paul played himself. Jeff Beck is joined by Imelda May and her band, in addition to Jason Rebello, Brian Setzer, Trombone Shorty and Gary U.S. Bonds. On some of the songs, May sings together with a pre-recorded voice of herself, imitating the recording technique used on songs sung by Les Paul's wife Mary Ford.

A year after Les Paul's death, Jeff Beck saluted the guitar pioneer by staging a rousing tribute show to the great man at Paul’s regular stomping ground, the Iridium Jazz Club. Backed by his current running mates the Imelda May Band, Beck enlisted some heavy-hitters for help -- Brian Setzer comes in for the rock & roll, Trombone Shorty for the jazz, Gary U.S. Bonds sings some oldies -- all the better to get the party started. Despite its title, Rock 'N' Roll Party skews ever so slightly to the old-fashioned swing and standards that were Paul's specialty and with the notable exception of tightly wound versions of “The Train Kept A Rollin’” and “Twenty Flight Rock,” even the rockers feel closer to jump blues than rockabilly. And that’s fine: a tribute to Les Paul's music shouldn’t be greasy, it should be a jumping, joyous blast of nostalgia, which is precisely what this party is.

Track listing:

01.    "Double Talking Baby" (feat. Darrel Higham)    Danny Wolfe    2:08
02.    "Cruisin'" (feat. Darrel Higham)    Gene Vincent, Bill Davis    2:13
03.    "The Train It Kept a Rollin'" (feat. Darrel Higham)    Tiny Bradshaw; Lois Mann; Howie Kay    2:36
04.    "Cry Me a River" (feat. Imelda May and Jason Rebello)    Arthur Hamilton    2:46
05.    "How High the Moon" (feat. Imelda May)    Nancy Hamilton; Morgan 'Buddy' Lewis    2:10
06.    "Sitting on Top of the World" (feat. Imelda May)    Raymond Brost (Ray Henderson); Joe Young; Samuel Levine (Sam M. Lewis)    2:23
07.    "Bye Bye Blues" (feat. Imelda May)    Fred Hamm; Dave Bennett; Bert Lown; Chauncey Gray    2:12
08.    "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise" (feat. Imelda May)    Ernest Seitz    2:21
09.    "Vaya Con Dios" (feat. Imelda May)    Buddy Pepper; Inez James; Larry Russell    2:57
10.    "Mockin' Bird Hill" (feat. Imelda May)    George Vaughn Horton    2:23
11.    "I'm a Fool to Care" (feat. Imelda May)    Ted Daffan    2:59
12.    "Tiger Rag" (feat. Imelda May)    Nick LaRocca; Eddie Edwards; Henry Ragas; Tony Sbarbaro; Larry Shields; Harry DaCosta    2:22
13.    "Peter Gunn" (feat. Jason Rebello and Trombone Shorty)    Enrico Nicola "Henry" Mancini    4:49
14.    "Rocking Is Our Business" (feat Darrel Higham, Jason Rebello and Trombone Shorty)    Gene Gilbeaux; Don Hill; Claude Trenier; Cliff Trenier    3:38
15.    "Apache"    Jerry Lordan    3:07
16.    "Sleep Walk"    Santo Farina; Johnny Farina    2:50
17.    "New Orleans" (feat. Gary U.S. Bonds and Jason Rebello)    Frank Guida; Joseph F. Royster    4:34
18.    "Walking in the Sand" (feat. Imelda May)    George "Shadow" Morton    4:39
19.    "Please Mr. Jailer" (feat. Imelda May)    Wynona Carr    4:54
20.    "Twenty Flight Rock" (feat. Brian Setzer)    Ned Fairchild; Eddie Cochran    3:44

Personnel:

Jeff Beck - Guitars
Imelda May - Vocal
Darrel Higham - Guitar, Vocal
Al Gare - Bass
Jason Rebello - Keyboards
Stephen Rushton - Drums, Backing Vocal
Dave Priseman - Trumpet
Leo Green - Saxophone
Blue Lou Marini - Baritone Saxophone
Gary U.S. Bonds - Vocal
Brian Setzer - Guitar
Trombone Shorty - Trombone

Jeff Beck - 2003 "Jeff"

Jeff is the ninth studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released on 5 August 2003 through Epic Records. The album reached No. 92 on the French albums chart and No. 122 on the U.S. Billboard 200. "Plan B" won the award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 2004 Grammys.

"If the voice don't say it, the guitar will play it," raps Saffron on "Pork-U-Pine," the third track on Jeff Beck's minimally titled Jeff. And he does. Beck teams with producer Andy Wright, the man responsible for his more complete immersion into electronic backdrops on his last outing, You Had It Coming. This time the transition is complete. Beck used electronica first on Who Else!, moved a little more into the fire on You Had It Coming, and here merges his full-on Beck-Ola guitar heaviness with the sounds of contemporary spazz-out big beats and noise. Beck and Wright employ Apollo 440 on "Grease Monkey" and "Hot Rod Honeymoon," and use a number of vocalists, including the wondrously gifted Nancy Sorrell, on a host of tracks, as well as the London Session Orchestra on others (such as "Seasons," where hip-hop, breakbeats, and old-school Tangerine Dream sequencing meet the guitarist's deep blues and funk-drenched guitar stylings). As for atmospherics, David Torn (aka producer Splattercell) offers a shape-shifting mix of glitch tracks on "Plan B" for Beck to wax on both acoustically and electrically, and make them weigh a ton. But it's on cuts like "Trouble Man," a purely instrumental big drum and guitar skronk workout, where Beck truly shines here. With a rhythm section of Dean Garcia and Steve Barney -- and Tony Hymas appears as well -- Beck goes completely overboard: the volume screams and the sheer crunch of his riffs and solos split the rhythm tracks in two, then four, and finally eight, as he turns single-string runs into commentaries on everything from heavy metal to East Indian classical music.

The industrial crank and burn of "Grease Monkey" is an outing fraught with danger for the guitarist, who has to whirl away inside a maelstrom of deeply funky noise -- and Beck rides the top of the wave into dirty drum hell and comes out wailing. For those who feel they need a dose of Beck's rootsier and bluesier playing, there is one, but the context is mentally unglued. "Hot Rod Honeymoon" is a drum and bass sprint with Beck playing both slide and Texas-style blues à la Albert Collins, letting the strings bite into the beats. The vocals are a bit cheesy, but the entire track is so huge it's easy to overlook them. "Line Dancing With Monkeys" has a splintered Delta riff at its core, but it mutates, shifts, changes shape, and becomes the kind of spooky blues that cannot be made with conventional instruments. His turnarounds into the myopic rhythms provide a kind of menacing foil to their increasing insistence in the mix. Before gabber-style drum and bass threaten to break out of the box, Beck's elongated bent-note solos tame them. "JB's Blues" is the oddest thing here because it's so ordinary; it feels like it belongs on an updated Blow By Blow. In all this is some of the most emotionally charged and ferocious playing of Beck's career. Within the context of contemporary beatronica, Beck flourishes. He find a worthy opponent to tame in the machines, and his ever-present funkiness is allowed to express far more excess than restraint. This is as fine a modern guitar record as you are ever going to hear.

Track listing:

01.    "So What"    Dean Garcia, Jeff Beck    4:19
02.    "Plan B"    Ron Aslan, Simon White, Beck, David Torn    4:49
03.    "Pork-U-Pine"    Beck, Andy Wright, Paul Holroyde    4:06
04.    "Seasons"    Ishmael Butler, Craig Irving, Maryann Viera, Syze-up, Beck, Wright, Matthew Vaughan    3:48
05.    "Trouble Man"    Beck, Garcia, Wright    3:34
06.    "Grease Monkey"    Howard Gray, Trevor Gray, Noko Fisher-Jones, Beck    3:34
07.    "Hot Rod Honeymoon"    H. Gray, T. Gray, Fisher-Jones, Beck    3:33
08.    "Line Dancing with Monkeys"    Aslan, White, Torn    5:18
09.    "JB's Blues"    Garcia, Beck    4:20
10.    "Pay Me No Mind (Jeff Beck Remix)"    Me One, Beck    3:18
11.    "My Thing"    Beck, Nancy Sorrell, Wright    4:10
12.    "Bulgaria"    trad., arr. Beck, Wright    2:00
13.    "Why Lord Oh Why?"    Tony Hymas    4:41
Total length:    51:35

Personnel:

    Jeff Beck – guitar, mixing (track 13), production (track 12)
    Saffron – vocals (track 3)
    Andy Wright – vocals (track 3), engineering (tracks 3–5, 11–13), production (tracks 3–5, 11, 12)
    Ronni Ancona – vocals (track 4)
    Nancy Sorrell – vocals (tracks 6, 7, 11)
    Apollo 440 – vocals (track 6), engineering (tracks 6, 7), production (tracks 6, 7)
    Baylen Leonard – vocals (track 7)
    The Beeched Boys – vocals (track 7)
    Me One – vocals (track 10), mixing (track 10), production (track 10)
    Wil Malone – orchestration arrangement (tracks 4, 12)
    London Session Orchestra – orchestration (tracks 12, 13)
    Steve Barney – drums (tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11)

 More Jeff Beck on this blog:

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=jeff+beck

Jeff Beck - 2000 "You Had It Coming"

You Had It Coming is the eighth studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released in 2000 through Epic Records. The album reached No. 17 and 110 on the Billboard Top Internet Albums and Billboard 200 charts respectively, as well as No. 96 and 123 on the German and French albums chart. "Dirty Mind", went on to win the award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 2002 Grammys; this being Beck's third such award, after the albums Flash (1985) and Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop (1989). Singer Imogen Heap is featured on "Dirty Mind" and "Rollin' and Tumblin'", and would later tour with Beck in 2004.

Jeff Beck returns two years after the ten-years-in-the-making Who Else?, and You Had It Coming isn't surprising just for its rapidity, but for its music. From the moment the electronicized, post-rave beats of "Earthquake" kick off the record, it's clear that Beck isn't content to stay in place -- he's trying to adapt to the modern world. To a certain extent, this isn't an entirely new phenomenon, since each of his records is clearly, inextricably of its time, from the crunching metal of Truth through the breezy jazz fusion of Blow By Blow to the modernized album rock of Guitar Shop. This is just another side of that, as Beck works with electronic music, both noisy and new age introspective. It's a bit clever, actually, since Beck's playing has always been otherworldly, dipping, bending, and sounding like anything other than a normal guitar. The problem is, when he's surrounded by lockstep, processed beats and gurgling synths, his guitar doesn't leap to the forefront and capture attention the way it does on his best recordings. Still, there's something to be said for the effort, because even if it doesn't sound like a Beck record, it isn't a bad record, and it's certainly a helluva lot more successful than Clapton's similar forays into these waters. Besides, knowing that he knocked this out so quickly makes it a little endearing.

Track listing:

01.    "Earthquake"    Jennifer Batten    3:18
02.    "Roy's Toy"    Jeff Beck, Aidan Love, Andy Wright    3:35
03.    "Dirty Mind"    Beck, Love, Wright    3:50
04.    "Rollin' and Tumblin'"    Muddy Waters    3:12
05.    "Nadia"    Nitin Sawhney    3:50
06.    "Loose Cannon"    Beck, Batten, Wright    5:17
07.    "Rosebud"    Beck, Randy Hope-Taylor, Wright    3:44
08.    "Left Hook"    Beck, Steve Alexander, Wright    4:22
09.    "Blackbird"    Beck    1:27
10.    "Suspension"    Beck, Wright    3:20
Total length:    35:55

Personnel:

    Jeff Beck – guitar
    Jennifer Batten – guitar
    Imogen Heap – vocals (tracks 3, 4)
    Aidan Love – programming
    Steve Alexander – drums
    Randy Hope-Taylor – bass

Jeff Beck - 1999 "Who Else!"

Who Else! is the seventh studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released on 16 March 1999 through Epic Records. The album reached No. 99 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and marks the end of a decade-long absence of original material from Beck since the release of Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop in 1989. Stylistically it showcases the first addition of electronic and techno music into his repertoire, along with the blues-based instrumental rock and jazz fusion of previous albums.

Fellow guitarist Jennifer Batten, having often cited Beck's influence on her playing, is featured as a collaborator and subsequently joined him on tour for three years. The album features the collaborative songwriting of Tony Hymas. "Brush with the Blues" became a signature tune and concert staple, and along with "Angel (Footsteps)" made it onto his 2008 concert album Live at Ronnie Scott's. "What Mama Said" samples Dick Shawn's dialogue from the 1963 film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Jeff Beck has never shied away from following trends, at least as far as the musical styles he uses to back up his signature guitar sound. Back in 1969, in a sleeve note on Beck-Ola, he noted that he hadn't come up with "anything totally original," and instead made an album "with the accent on heavy music" at a time when the "heavy music" of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Led Zeppelin was all the rage. In 1975, at the height of the jazz fusion movement, he made a jazz fusion album, and a good one, too. In both cases, however, the fashionable genres only provided a contemporary-sounding context in which his playing could flourish. If anyone has ever needed to be inspired to work, it's this recluse. So on his first regular studio album of new material in ten years, Who Else!, Beck, on at least a few tracks, solos over heavily percussive techno tracks reminiscent of Prodigy. But whether he's piercing such a rhythmic wall, rearranging the blues on the live "Blast From the East," or floating over an ambient soundscape on "Angel (Footsteps)," it's the same old Beck, with his stinging and sustained single-note melodies, his harmonics, his contrasting tones, his drive. And the man who played "Greensleeves" straight on Truth in 1968 is the same one who is faithful to the Irish air "Declan" here. Older fans who haven't been spending time at raves in recent years may want to program their CDs to avoid the electronica, but they should at least give those tunes a listen -- are they any heavier than the "heavy music" of 1969?

Track listing:

01.    "What Mama Said"    Jennifer Batten, Jeff Beck, Tony Hymas    3:22
02.    "Psycho Sam"    Hymas    4:55
03.    "Brush with the Blues" (live)    Hymas, Beck    6:24
04.    "Blast from the East"    Hymas    4:46
05.    "Space for the Papa"    Hymas    7:41
06.    "Angel (Footsteps)"    Hymas    6:30
07.    "THX138"    Hymas    6:15
08.    "Hip-Notica"    Hymas, Beck    4:40
09.    "Even Odds"    Jan Hammer    3:29
10.    "Declan"    Dónal Lunny    4:02
11.    "Another Place"    Hymas    1:48
Total length:    53:52

Personnel:

    Jeff Beck – guitar, arrangement, producer
    Jennifer Batten – guitar, guitar synthesizer
    Mark John – guitar (track 10)
    Tony Hymas – keyboard (except track 9), sound effects, arrangement, production
    Jan Hammer – keyboard (track 9), drums (track 9)
    Simon Wallace – synthesizer (track 10)
    Steve Alexander – drums (except tracks 2, 9, 10)
    Manu Katché – drums (track 2), percussion (track 2)
    Randy Hope-Taylor – bass (except track 2)
    Pino Palladino – bass (track 2)
    Bob Loveday – violin (track 10)
    Clive Bell – flute (track 10)

Jeff Beck - 1995 "Best of Beck"

Ever restless as a musician and constantly changing directions and trying new things, guitarist Jeff Beck is difficult to reduce to a 14-track overview, although this set probably does as well as one could at sketching in the portrait. Beginning as a guitarist for the Yardbirds in the 1960s, Beck hit his stride with the Jeff Beck Group (which featured a then relatively unknown Rod Stewart as lead singer) later in the decade, and "Shapes of Things" (initially a radio hit for the Yardbirds), "Plynth," and "Beck's Bolero" are represented here from that era. Also here are several of Beck's mid-'70s fusion tracks, including "Freeway Jam" and "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," as well as his 1980s reunion with Stewart, “People Get Ready.” Again, Beck is a difficult artist to capture in a single-disc drive-by, but for folks curious about this fine guitarist and wanting a quick sampler of his work in several of his various guises, this set works fine as an introduction.

This is the best kind of "best of" CD to own. With groups/artists that have had any measure of success on the charts what you always get is a collection of their overplayed "greatest hits," songs that may or may not truly represent the gist of what the musician/band is all about. But with more eclectic artists like Jeff Beck and Frank Zappa (the "Strictly Commercial" album is well worth the coin) such an assemblage of tunes isn't restricted to tired, familiar ditties and allows the listener to enjoy a compilation that contains outstanding aspects of their career. While I rarely agree with the tracks picked to include on these kinds of packagings, in this case I think they pretty much got it right.

My opinion is that all serious proggers should have some JB albums in their stash of music. But if you're a novice and you've been unsure about where to start with one of the very best electric guitarists who has ever graced this planet's contributions, this reasonably-priced overview of his career won't give you a false impression or let you down. Look, the man is important. So much so that I doubt that any guitarist worth his salt would deny being influenced to some extent by the amazing Jeff Beck.

Track listing:

01 The Pump    5:48
02 People Get Ready    4:54
03 Freeway Jam    5:00
04 Shapes Of Things    3:19
05 Where Were You    3:17
06 Beck's Bolero    2:52
07 Going Down    6:51
08 Jailhouse Rock    3:14
09 Goodbye Pork Pie Hat    5:29
10 Blue Wind    6:11
11 Plynth (Water Down The Drain)    3:06
12 Two Rivers    5:21
13 Scatterbrain    5:40
14 She's A Woman    4:29

Jeff Beck - 1989 "Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop"

 

Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop is the sixth studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released in October 1989 through Epic Records. The album reached No. 49 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and won the award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 1990 Grammys; this being Beck's second album to win that award, after Flash (1985).

"Stand on It" was released as a single and reached No. 35 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart; "Sling Shot" was featured in the 1990 horror comedy film Gremlins 2: The New Batch; several other tracks were used as part of the soundtrack for the 1990 South Atlantic Raiders episodes of the British comedy series The Comic Strip Presents.

In a further move from his previous jazz fusion stylings, Beck adopts a more straightforward instrumental rock approach on Guitar Shop, save for two tracks ("Guitar Shop" and "Day in the House") on which drummer Terry Bozzio provides quirky spoken vocals.

Guitar Shop represents guitar hero Jeff Beck's return to the scene following his 1985 pop/rock-based recording, Flash; an outing that featured his one time lead vocalist, Rod Stewart. Essentially, this 1989 release provides Beck's ardent admirers with a power-packed outing, brimming with memorable melodies, drummer Terry Bozzio's often blistering rock drumming, and keyboardist Tony Hymas' effective synth textures. Here, Beck surges onward in altogether stunning fashion via his quirky lead lines, sweet-tempered slide guitar work, disfigured extended notes and deterministic mode of execution. With "Behind the Veil," the band delves into a reggae groove, featuring Beck's lower register thematic statements and well-placed notes. Otherwise, the ensemble tackles the blues and hard rock motifs amid Beck's crunching chord clusters, animated lines, and soaring heavenward soloing on the lovely and somewhat ethereal ballad titled "Two Rivers." Simply put, this is a wonderfully produced effort and a significant entry into the artist's extensive recorded legacy.

Track listing:

1.    "Guitar Shop"    Jeff Beck, Terry Bozzio, Tony Hymas    5:03
2.    "Savoy"    Beck, Bozzio, Hymas    3:52
3.    "Behind the Veil"    Hymas    4:55
4.    "Big Block"    Beck, Bozzio, Hymas    4:09
5.    "Where Were You"    Beck, Bozzio, Hymas    3:17
6.    "Stand on It"    Beck, Hymas    4:59
7.    "Day in the House"    Beck, Bozzio, Hymas    5:04
8.    "Two Rivers"    Beck, Bozzio, Hymas    5:25
9.    "Sling Shot"    Beck, Hymas    3:07
Total length:    39:51

Personnel:

    Jeff Beck – guitar, production
    Tony Hymas – keyboard (including bassline), synthesizer, production
    Terry Bozzio – drums, percussion, spoken vocals, production

Jeff Beck - 1969 [1997] "Beck-Ola"

 

Beck-Ola is the second studio album by English guitarist Jeff Beck, and the first credited to The Jeff Beck Group released in 1969 in the United Kingdom on Columbia Records and in the United States on Epic Records. It peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200, and at No. 39 on the UK Albums Chart. The album's title puns on the name of the Rock-Ola jukebox company.

After the release of their previous album Truth, by the end of 1968 drummer Micky Waller was replaced by Tony Newman, as Jeff Beck wanted to take the music in a heavier direction and he viewed Waller as more of a finesse drummer in the style of Motown.[2] Pianist Nicky Hopkins, who had also played on Truth, was asked to join the band full-time for his work in the studio.

Recording sessions for the album took place over six days in April 1969 – the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 10th, 11th and 19th.[3] Two covers of Elvis Presley tunes were chosen, "All Shook Up" and "Jailhouse Rock", as well as "Girl From Mill Valley", an instrumental by and prominently featuring Hopkins. The remaining four tracks consist of band originals, with the instrumental "Rice Pudding" ending the album dramatically cold. The album cover features a reproduction of Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte's The Listening Room. On the back cover to the original vinyl issue, beside "Beck-Ola" is written the tag "Cosa Nostra", Italian for "Our Thing".

Following the sessions for this album, the Jeff Beck Group toured the United States. They were scheduled to play Woodstock and are listed on posters promoting the festival, but by then internal friction had reached the breaking point and both Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart were out of the band.[4] Stewart and Wood would form The Faces with members of the Small Faces in 1969, while Hopkins played Woodstock with Jefferson Airplane, joined Quicksilver Messenger Service, and toured the world with The Rolling Stones in 1971, 1972 and 1973. Beck himself would be out of commission by December due to an automobile accident.

When it was originally released in June 1969, Beck-Ola, the Jeff Beck Group's second album, featured a famous sleeve note on its back cover: "Today, with all the hard competition in the music business, it's almost impossible to come up with anything totally original. So we haven't. However, this LP was made with the accent on heavy music. So sit back and listen and try and decide if you can find a small place in your heads for it." Beck was reacting to the success of peers and competitors like Cream and Led Zeppelin here, bands that had been all over the charts with a hard rock sound soon to be dubbed heavy metal, and indeed, his sound employs much the same brand of "heavy music" as theirs, with deliberate rhythms anchoring the beat, over which the guitar solos fiercely and the lead singer emotes. But he was also preparing listeners for the weakness of the material on an album that sounds somewhat thrown together. Two songs are rehauls of Elvis Presley standards ("All Shook Up" and "Jailhouse Rock") and one is an instrumental interlude contributed by pianist Nicky Hopkins, promoted from sideman to group member, with the rest being band-written songs that basically serve as platforms for Beck's improvisations. But that doesn't detract from the album's overall quality, due both to the guitar work and the distinctive vocals of Rod Stewart, and Beck-Ola easily could have been the album to establish the Jeff Beck Group as the equal of the other heavy bands of the day. Unfortunately, a series of misfortunes occurred. Beck canceled out of a scheduled appearance at Woodstock; he was in a car accident that sidelined him for over a year, and Stewart and bass player Ron Wood decamped to join Faces, breaking up the group. Nevertheless, Beck-Ola stands as a prime example of late-'60s British blues-rock and one of Beck's best records.

 Track listing:

 All Shook Up    4:52
 Spanish Boots    3:34
 Girl From Mill Valley    3:49
 Jailhouse Rock    3:12
 Plynth (Water Down The Drain)    3:06
 The Hangman's Knee    4:48
 Rice Pudding    7:22

Personnel:

    Jeff Beck – guitars, backing vocals on "Throw Down a Line"
    Rod Stewart – lead vocals
    Nicky Hopkins – piano and organ
    Ronnie Wood – bass guitar
    Tony Newman – drums

Various Artists - 1991 Guitar Player Presents - "Legends Of Guitar - Rock The '60s" - Volume 2

 

Guitar Player Presents Rock: Legends of Guitar: The '60s, Vol. 2 gathers 18 blistering performances from late-'60s guitar greats, including Jeff Beck's "Beck's Bolero," the Allman Brothers Band's "Trouble No More," and Ronnie Hawkins' "Who Do You Love." Sandy Nelson's "Mr. John Lee, Pt. 1" and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers' "The Supernatural" and "Knockers Step Forward" lend a bluesy flair to the collection, while Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysses" showcases Eric Clapton's fusion of blues and psychedelia. Though the album does spotlight classic guitar solos, such as the one on Jerry Garcia's "Love Scene," more often than not it features songs where great playing is integral to the song rather than decoration. Willie Mitchell's "Soul Serenade," Taj Mahal's "Six Days on the Road," and Bobby Gregg and His Friends' "The Jam, Pt. 1" all let other elements in the songs share the spotlight with the guitar, and they're all the better for it. The Wailers' "Frenzy," Travis Wammack's "Scratchy," and Country Joe & the Fish's "Section 43" are some of the other highlights from this album, which mixes a wide array of rock styles and players into a refreshingly diverse tribute that's almost as versatile as the guitar itself.

I bought this CD for one specific song: "Scratchy" by Travis Wammack. I remember listening to the tune on AM radio back in my high school days - it definitely sounds great on disc. There were a couple of other songs that I didn't exactly recall but were great bonus tracks for me. The psychedelic sound of "Section 43" by Country Joe & the Fish was an incredible find; so was "Six Days on the Road" by Taj Majal. I commend Rhino for this compilation of great but rare sounds.

They don't make compilations like this anymore. Plus, the liner notes guy is a funny one, (just read about the p***sy one comment) very knowledgeable and informative. Kudos to the store: Got my Item as described. The sound on the CD is pretty clean and some tracks have a great remastering, even matching today standards!
Thank you.  

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=various+artists

Artists - Track listing:

01    Jeff Beck – Beck's Bolero
02    Willie Mitchell – Soul Serenade
03    Ronnie Hawkins – Who Do You Love
04    Sandy Nelson – Mr. John Lee - Pt. 1
05    The Lovin' Spoonful – Night Owl Blues
06    Taj Mahal – Six Days On The Road
07    The Fendermen – Torture
08    Jerry Garcia – Love Scene
09    Country Joe And The Fish – Section 43
10    Travis Wammack – Scratcy
11    Cream – Tales Of Brave Ulysses
12    John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers – The Supernatural
13    John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers – Knockers Step Forward
14    Phil Upchurch Combo – You Can't Sit Down - Pt. 1
15    Bobby Gregg And His Friends – The Jam - Pt. 1
16    Thumbs Carllile – Hold It
17    The Wailers – Frenzy
18    The Allman Brothers Band – Trouble No More

Dennis Chambers, Jeff Berlin, Dave Fiuczynski, T Lavitz - 2005 "Boston T Party"

Boston T Party is the collaboration of four celebrated progressive musicians who join forces for a jazz fusion tour de force, brimming with musical virtuosity from every player in the ensemble. Bringing to mind as diverse artists as Weather Report, Zappa and Jeff Beck.

Although the golden age of fusion is now thought of as 1969-1975, give or take a few years, creative fusion is still very much with us, if a bit underground. Keyboardist T Lavitz heads an all-star quartet and composed most of the material heard here, music that is full of intensity, fire, constant interplay between the players, and passion. Although there are some brilliant solos, the main significance to this music is how the four musicians all fit together and form exciting ensembles. Mixing together jazz improvising with the sound, rhythms, and power of rock, Boston T Party should delight fusion fans.

Wow! What an incredible band! This is some of the best and most interesting fusion work I have heard in years. A band of pros. T Lavitz (ex-Dixie Dregs)and Jeff Berlin (ex-Bruford etc.) have joined forces with an amazing guitarist and the world's greatest drummer to revive the true fusion experience. I saw Jeff play in Clearwater with his three piece jazz group at an art gallery about 2 years ago. Only about 50 people in attendace! I sat on a folding chair only a few feet away from him watching him play and I was blown away. I only wished he was playing the music I've always loved so much - jazz/rock fusion! Not that the jazz was bad, it was great! But I have been a big fan of his especially from the old Bruford Band days. So it was quite surprising (and exciting) to me to hear him back playing this style of music. Not only that, he is working with Dennis Chambers, the most amazing drummer on the planet! Dennis is constantly working with a numerous musicians (Mike Stern, Santana, etc.) doing sessions as well as performing with bands like Niacin (By the way, Niacin will be performing at Nearfest 06!) featuring Billy Sheehan and John Novello. This is also one of the best T Lavitz performances on record! I just can't say enough good things about this band. I highly recommend this CD to anyone who is into playing and also to fans of jazz/rock fusion.

What a great disc. A great lineup delivers. The sounds of classic fusion. From start to finish, great tunes. The disc ends on a burning note, Foxy Morons is a kick ass tune to finish this great piece of music. Hopefully more of this to come in the future from Jeff Berlin and crew.

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=Dennis+Chambers

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=Jeff+Berlin

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=T+Lavitz

Track listing:

01     D'funk'd     6:25
02     (Great ) Ball Of Issues     5:39
03     Around About Way     6:41
04     I Hate The Blues...(But Here's One Anyway)     5:56
05     All Thought Out     6:46
06     Emotional Squalor     8:26
07     Deff 184     1:46
08     Last Trane     3:10
09     Constant Comment     7:46
10     Foxy Morons     6:38

Personnel:

    Drums – Dennis Chambers
    Bass – Jeff Berlin
    Guitar – David Fiuczynski
    Keyboards – T. Lavitz
 

Allan Holdsworth - 2017 "The Man Who Changed Guitar Forever" [12 CD Box]

The Man Who Changed Guitar Forever! The Allan Holdsworth Album Collection is a box set by the English jazz fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth. It was released by Manifesto Records on 7 April 2017.

The 12-CD collection contains remastered versions of 11 studio albums and a live album, along with a 40-page booklet by Christopher Hoard. In one of his last interviews, Holdsworth spoke to DownBeat magazine and explained that the title of the collection was not his idea, but also added that he was very pleased with the quality of the remastered tracks by Manifesto Records.

Twelve CD box set collection featuring all of Allan Holdsworth's solo albums from 1982-2003. That title is no hyperbole-it was a proclamation that ran on the cover of Guitar Player Magazine in 2008, and is a feeling shared by fans and guitarists all around the world. Still, though, Holdsworth remains largely under-rated; many who admire his most famous work have overlooked dozens of fascinating finds to be made on his decades of recordings. This collection is a treasure trove of such discoveries, as it brings you all 11 of his albums as a solo artist, producer and group leader since 1980 plus the live-in-Tokyo album Then! And a 40-page booklet full of liner notes and archival photos. You also get previously unreleased bonus tracks, and all these albums have been newly remastered from the original tapes: I.O.U. (1982), Road Games (1983), Metal Fatigue (1985), Atavachron (1986), Sand (1987), Secrets (1989), Wardenclyffe Tower (1992), Hard Hat Area (1993), None Too Soon (1996), The Sixteen Men Of Tain (2000), Flat Tire (2001) and Then! (2003). These albums, many of which have been out of print and very hard to find for years, include one intriguing composition, ethereal track, dazzling fusion rocker and daredevil guitar passage after another.

Allan Holdsworth was a true innovator, an absolute genius. His death has left a big hole which no one can fill. If you know a thing or two about harmony and rhythm, you know that he is untouchable. His loss is profound and it may be decades before one is able to catch up with his process. He was touched. He invented and spoke his own language. His influence is great among the gods of guitar, but take the instrument out of the equation and consider the notes that he chose. Long live Allan: the most spectacular guitarist/improviser probably ever! I've had these albums for years, but the fact that they are all being offered up in a box (his "life's work", as he said) is wonderful. The remasters sound remarkable! i.o.u., Atavachron and Sand greatly benefit from the tweaking!

Allan Holdsworth's music is, at the very least, - at the very least! - a must-listen for any serious student of that art form. far beyond that, though: for me, and many others, his music represents the very pinnacle of human achievement. holdsworth literally invented his own system, his own vocabulary, of music - john mclaughlin famously said "if i could figure out what he's doing, i'd steal every bit of it, but i can't figure it out." his technical facility was unmatched, but always applied musically, melodically - he never fell into the trap of technique for its own sake. there is deep and strange beauty in everything he wrote... he also never fell into the trap of commerciality; he was absolutely committed to the highest standards of artistic integrity, even though it cost him material wealth - he never compromised. the box set here in question is simply worth any amount of money, for what price can one put on the greatest art ever created?

If you think that title of this 12-disc boxed set rounding up the solo albums from 1982 – 2003 is mere hyperbole then you’d be wrong. With players as diverse as Eddie Van Halen, Carlos Santana, Frank Zappa, Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, Joe Satriani and Tom Morello speaking his name in reverential tones, Bradford-born Holdsworth is truly special. While the spiralling escape velocity of his runs is breathtaking, the real mind-blowing quality to his work that has the luminaries of the guitar world picking up their jaws from the floor isn’t his speed but the harmonic construction within Holdsworth’s soloing and compositions. His dextrous command remains innovative with most left sprawled in his wake trying to figure out what just happened.

While progressive music fans will know him through Soft Machine, Bill Bruford, Tempest, UK, Gong and Tony Williams’ Lifetime, his own catalogue has tended to mix‘n’match between jazzy elan; 1996’s None Too Soon and fusion-friendly furrows and 1993’s Hard Hat Area being typical. That he has as many releases as this is not something to take for granted. Holdsworth has been notorious in his exacting, self-editing rigour, where even the vaguest hint of anything regarded by him as substandard is binned. It’s a pity because not only has it made his progress slower than it might otherwise have been, his rejects are better than most other people’s career-best takes.

Joined by a variety of empathetic players, including explosive drumming from both Chad Wackerman and Gary Husband and UK jazz veteran Gordon Beck on piano, Holdsworth albums are always going to be classy affairs, with 2000’s The Sixteen Men Of Tain being one of his most incisive of this collection both as player and composer.

Whether Holdsworth’s extensive use of guitar synth technology is a good thing will depend on your taste. As with other exponents, including McLaughlin, Metheny or Fripp, it works best and to most telling effect, when used sparingly. This isn’t a viewpoint especially Holdsworth shares. His fascination in getting his native instrument to emulate keyboards, strings, brass and even, God forbid, a herniated pan-pipe on 2001’s Flat Tire: Music For A Non-Existent Movie, and elsewhere, sounds like the tail wagging the dog.

Such matters of individual preference aside, there’s no getting away from the fact the bulk of his work represents an astonishingly original talent at work. If the 12-disc set is more Holdsworth than you’d like then the two-disc compilation, Eidolon is a very useful snapshot of highlights chosen by the man himself.

Rest In Peace Allan, there will not be another like you.

Album listing:

    I.O.U. (1982)
    Road Games (1983)
    Metal Fatigue (1985)
    Atavachron (1986)
    Sand (1987)
    Secrets (1989)
    Wardenclyffe Tower (1992, 2007 Japanese Edition)
    Hard Hat Area (1993)
    None Too Soon (1996)
    The Sixteen Men of Tain (2000, 2003 Special Edition)
    Flat Tire: Music for a Non-Existent Movie (2001)
    Then! (2003, 2014 Japanese Edition)

 Album/Track listing:

    I.O.U. 1982

1-1     The Things You See (When You Haven't Got Your Gun)    
1-2     Where Is One    
1-3     Checking Out    
1-4     Letters Of Marque    
1-5     Out From Under    
1-6     Temporary Fault    
1-7     Shallow Sea    
1-8     White Line

Personnel:

Paul Carmichael / bass
Allan Holdsworth / guitar, violin
Gary Husband / drums, piano
Paul Williams / vocals

   
    Road Games 1983

2-1     Three Sheets To The Wind    
2-2     Road Games    
2-3     Water On The Brain Pt. 2    
2-4     Tokyo Dreams    
2-5     Was There?    
2-6     Material Real

Personnel

Allan Holdsworth – guitar, production
Paul Williams – vocals (track 2)
Jack Bruce – vocals (tracks 5, 6)
Chad Wackerman – drums
Jeff Berlin – bass
Joe Turano – background vocals
Paul Korda – background vocals

   
    Metal Fatigue 1985

3-1     Metal Fatigue    
3-2     Home    
3-3     Devil Take The Hindmost    
3-4     Panic Station    
3-5     The Un-Merry-Go-Round    
3-6     In The Mystery

Personnel:

Allan Holdsworth – guitar, engineering, production
Paul Williams – vocals (tracks 1, 4)
Paul Korda – vocals (track 6)
Alan Pasqua – keyboard
Chad Wackerman – drums (except tracks 5, 6)
Gary Husband – drums (track 5)
"Mac Hine" – drum machine (track 6)
Jimmy Johnson – bass (except track 5)
Gary Willis – bass (track 5)

   
    Atavachron 1986

4-1     Non Brewed Condiment    
4-2     Funnels    
4-3     The Dominant Plague    
4-4     Atavachron    
4-5     Looking Glass    
4-6     Mr. Berwell    
4-7     All Our Yesterdays

Personnel:

Allan Holdsworth – guitar, SynthAxe, engineering, mixing, production
Rowanne Mark – vocals (track 7)
William Edward Childs – keyboard (tracks 2, 5)
Alan Pasqua – keyboard (tracks 3, 4, 6)
Gary Husband – drums (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6)
Chad Wackerman – drums (tracks 3, 7)
Tony Williams – drums (track 5)
Jimmy Johnson – bass

   
    Sand 1987

5-1     Sand    
5-2     Distance Vs. Desire    
5-3     Pud Wud    
5-4     Clown    
5-5     The 4.15 Bradford Executive    
5-6     Mac Man

Personnel:

Allan Holdsworth – guitar, SynthAxe, engineering, mixing, production
Alan Pasqua – keyboard
Gary Husband – drums (tracks 1, 3)
Chad Wackerman – drums (tracks 4, 5), percussion (track 6)
Jimmy Johnson – bass (except track 6)
Biff Vincent – Roland Octapad bass (track 6)

   
    Secrets 1989

6-1     City Nights    
6-2     Secrets    
6-3     54 Duncan Terrace    
6-4     Joshua    
6-5     Spokes    
6-6     Maid Marion    
6-7     Peril Premonition    
6-8     Endomorph

Personnel:

Allan Holdsworth / guitar, Synthaxe (2,5,8), spoken voice (7), producer & mixing
Rowanne Mark / vocals (2)
Craig Copeland / vocals (8)
Gary Husband / keyboards (1)
Alan Pasqua / piano (3)
Steve Hunt / keyboards (4,6)
Jimmy Johnson / bass (1-6,8)
Bob Wackerman / bass (7)
Vinnie Colaiuta / drums (1-6,8)
Chad Wackerman / drums & keyboards (7)
Claire Holdsworth / spoken voice, in French (7)
Jeffrey Ocheltree / "hammer" (7)

   
    Wardenclyffe Tower 1992

7-1     5 To 10    
7-2     Sphere Of Innocence    
7-3     Wardenclyffe Tower    
7-4     Dodgy Boat    
7-5     Zarabeth    
7-6     Against The Clock    
7-7     Questions    
7-8     Oneiric Moor    
    Bonus Tracks
7-9     Tokyo Dream    
7-10     The Un-Merry-Go-Round Part 4    
7-11     The Un-Merry-Go-Round Part 5

Personnel:

Allan Holdsworth / guitar, SynthAxe (1,3,6), producer
Joel Schnebelt / spoken vocals (1)
Naomi Star / vocals (6)
Steve Hunt / keyboards (1,2,4,5)
Jimmy Johnson / bass
Gary Husband / drums (2,4), keyboards (3)
Chad Wackerman / drums (1,3,5,7), keyboards (7)
Vinnie Colaiuta / drums (6) 

   
    Hard Hat Area 1993

8-1     Prelude    
8-2     Ruhkukah    
8-3     Low Levels, High Stakes    
8-4     Hard Hat Area    
8-5     Tullio    
8-6     House Of Mirrors    
8-7     Postlude

Personnel:

Allan Holdsworth – guitar, SynthAxe, engineering, mixing, production
Steve Hunt – keyboard
Gary Husband – drums
Skúli Sverrisson – bass

   
    None Too Soon 1996

9-1     Countdown    
9-2     Nuages    
9-3     How Deep Is The Ocean    
9-4     Isotope    
9-5     None Too Soon Pt. 1 Interlude/None Too Soon Pt. 2    
9-6     Norwegian Wood    
9-7     Very Early    
9-8     San Marcos    
9-9     Inner Urge

Personnel:

Allan Holdsworth – guitar, SynthAxe, engineering, mixing, production
Gordon Beck – digital piano
Kirk Covington – drums
Gary Willis – bass

   
    The Sixteen Men Of Tain 2000

10-1     San Onofre    
10-2     0274    
10-3     The Sixteen Men Of Tain    
10-4     Above And Below    
10-5     The Drums Were Yellow    
10-6     Texas    
10-7     Downside Up    
10-8     Eidolon    
10-9     Above And Below (Reprise)    
10-10     Material Unreal

Personnel:

Allan Holdsworth – guitar, SynthAxe, engineering, mixing, production
Gary Novak – drums (except track 6)
Chad Wackerman – drums (track 6)
Dave Carpenter – bass
Walt Fowler – trumpet

   
    Flat Tire 2001

11-1     The Duplicate Man (Intro)    
11-2     The Duplicate Man    
11-3     Eeny Meeny    
11-4     Please Hold On    
11-5     Snow Moon    
11-6     Curves    
11-7     So Long    
11-8     Bo Peep    
11-9     Don't You Know    

Personnel:

Allan Holdsworth – guitar, SynthAxe, drum programming, production
Dave Carpenter – bass (tracks 3, 8)


    Then! 2003

12-1     Zone 1    
12-2     Proto-Cosmo    
12-3     White Line    
12-4     Atavachron    
12-5     Zone 2    
12-6     Pud Wud    
12-7     House Of Mirrors    
12-8     Non-Brewed Condiment    
12-9     Zone 3
        Bonus track
12-10   Funnels

Personnel:

Allan Holdsworth – guitar, SynthAxe, mixing, production
Steve Hunt – keyboard
Gary Husband – drums
Jimmy Johnson – bass

Larry Carlton - 2006 "Fire Wire"

Fire Wire is an album by Larry Carlton that was released in 2006. It received a nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards which took place in 2007.

If veteran session guitarist Larry Carlton's Sapphire Blue (Bluebird, 2004) was a first shot at the bow of those who'd written him off as too smooth, Fire Wire is a veritable volley. Sapphire Blue found Carlton in a more energetic, blues-based context, but his trademark singing tone still spoke the language of jazz. Leaving all such references behind, Fire Wire is more rock instrumental than jazz fusion—and the rawest album he's made in his forty-year career.

The laid-back minor blues of "The Prince" is a respite from the energy of the rest of the record. Carlton restricts himself to acoustic guitar and demonstrates, once again, his debt to legendary bluesman B.B. King. "Inkblot 11," on the other hand, is a flat-out, pedal-to-the-metal rocker. Even the inclusion of the Sapphire Blue Horn Section does little to soften the wide-legged rock stance of Carlton's gritty tone and searing lines.

Carlton's writing on Fire Wire is his most direct, least complicated to date. Complex harmonies are nowhere to be found, nor are there any odd bars to break up the pulsing rock groove of songs like the four-to-the-floor "Double Cross." His language may be simpler, but his ability to squeeze the most out of every bend, and phrase in ways that maximize every note, keeps Fire Wire in context with the rest of his nearly two dozen solo records. If Blow by Blow (Epic, 1975) proved Jeff Beck's ability to transfer his visceral rock style into a jazz fusion setting, Fire Wire shows Carlton's ability to move in an opposite direction. The changes are simpler, but Carlton remains ever an inventive player, even when speaking in those terms.

The core quartet's other members, drummer Matt Chamberlain, bassist Michael Rhodes and keyboardist Jeff Babko, get little solo space. Still, they're the perfect rhythm section—loose and responsive when required, tight and completely in synch behind Carlton elsewhere.

One could argue that by moving away from the smooth leanings of his more recent work, Carlton runs the risk of alienating a core fan group. But anyone who's followed Carlton's forty-year career knows that his tastes run wide. On first glance Fire Wire may appear to be an anomaly, but given Carlton's ever-present less-is-more approach, its raw lyricism and avoidance of excess place it completely in context.

Issued in Japan in 2005, Larry Carlton's Fire Wire was issued stateside in March of 2006. This is a kind of continuation the Sapphire Blue session from 2004. Where the former album used a textured approach to the blues, many of the tunes here are in your face. They are mostly uptempo, funky, and tough, though some of them are moody and dark. And while "blues" are ever present here, they seem to inform Carlton's more rocking style on this offering. What's more, unlike some of his more commercial and fusion oriented projects, this one engages rock directly with a keen lyrical sensibility.

Keyboardist Jeff Babko seems to be a key collaborator on these tracks. His big fat synthetic backdrop provides ballast for the rhythm section -- bassist Michael Rhodes and drummer Matt Chamberlain -- and a big enough jump-off point for Carlton to do his considerable stuff both riffing and filling the spaces. "Inkblot 11" roars out of the gate with Carlton stereo riffing alternately with the four-piece horn section that makes it groove. "Double Cross" touches on the blues, but it's funkier, especially when the guitar lines and Babko's Rhodes play in tandem and then Carlton goes for the power chords. "Surrender" is a smoky little blues rocker that sounds like a postmodern tribute to Peter Green. "Naked Truth" references Jimi Hendrix's "Castles Made of Sand" in the opening moments and becomes its own distorted lyric ballad.

The big crunch returns in "Big Trouble," courtesy of Carlton's stereo guitar, and Csaba Petocz's in-the-red production. This is one of those tracks where the guitar just screams and screams of simple heavy rock vamps but who cares? It kicks butt. The funk returns on "Dirty Donna's House Party," with horns and keyboards popping all over the mix. Carlton's in the high register doing some serious string bending. The record closes with the abstractly moody jazz-funk number. It's an odd cut, but when it hits its groove, one can see why it was chosen to end the set. Carlton is simply loose, pushing the dials up and Babko supports him in the same way Jan Hammer supported Jeff Beck, filling spaces for the rhythm section to jump on, putting the vamp in the back instead of the front, and accelerating things in the middle so Carlton can just let loose -- and he does. Fire Wire isn't the most imaginative or creatively challenging record Carlton has ever made, but it is loose, reckless, and fun; he must have had a ball making it, but you'd never know it by the cover.

A departure from this heavy-duty program is “Sunrise,” a melancholy acoustic ballad in the tradition of his Grammy-winning album from 20 years ago, Alone/But Never Alone. Other highlights include Carlton’s stinging, Albert King-flavored licks and wah-wah wailing over the top of the funky “Dirty Donna’s House Party” (reminiscent of Billy Cobham’s “Stratus”) and his liquid harmonic sensibility on the lyrical ballad “Naked Truth” (inspired by Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing”).

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=larry+carlton

Track listing

01    "Inkblot 11 – 3:18
02    "Double Cross – 4:36
03    "Naked Truth" – 3:49
04    "Surrender" – 5:01
05    "Big Trouble" – 3:42
06    "Goodbye" – 4:40
07    "Dirty Donna's House Party" – 5:37
08    "The Prince" – 4:35
09    "Sunrise" – 5:11
10     "Mean Street" – 6:48

Personnel

    Larry Carlton – guitar
    Mike Haynes – trumpet
    Barry Green – trombone
    Mark Douthit – saxophone
    Doug Moffet – baritone saxophone
    Jeff Babko – keyboards
    Michael Rhodes – bass guitar
    Matt Chamberlain – drums

Jeff Beck - 1977 [2008] "With The Jan Hammer Group (Live)"

Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live is a live album by Jeff Beck, released in 1977 on Epic Records.

This album is definitely an epic performance of Jeff and Jan, I have it in all the formats available, it is music that can be listened many times and never get old!

Starting with Freeway Jam, that's exactly the way an improvised song should sound, you can just feel how the power of these two monsters of music is just waiting to be unchained, and when the time comes, their soloing travels giving so much dimension to the song.

Later Jeff sings She's a Woman flooding the air with a guitar so sensual that it feels he is singing to her, and her moaning to the touch of his master hand, monumental version!

The album closes with a no less great tune, Jeff Beck at his higher, Blue Wind still has the flavor of The Jeff Beck Group, agressive, dynamic, taking music to the next level with a so revolucionary sound only Beck can project.

Jan Hammer's uncanny ability to simulate the pitch-bending qualities of an electric guitar on his Minimoog synthesizer made him an explosive duet partner with rock's Jeff Beck on this live album -- the third of Beck's successful flirtations with jazz-rock. While leaning toward the Mahavishnu Orchestra brand of jazz-rock, with the word "rock" heavily emphasized, this is a looser, less lockstepped variant. The song selection is split almost equally between Hammer and Beck's repertoires, with Hammer's remake of his techno/mechanized "Darkness/Earth In Search of a Sun" making the biggest splash.

Beck is a marvel, his stinging guitar darting in and out from everywhere like a hit-and-run guerrilla fighter, and Hammer matches him blow by blow, so to speak, with his purer yet equally agile tone quality on shootouts like "Full Moon Boogie." Hammer is a terrible vocalist, but that indulgence fortunately is limited to one track; Beck himself only vocalizes through a gauzy electronic filter on a reggae-like treatment of the Beatles' "She's a Woman." Though the jazz-rock idiom seemed almost spent by the time this was released, Hammer and Beck happily pretended not to notice.

No precise dates and locations are given for the live recordings. The tour began in June 1976 and ended in February 1977, with 117 shows performed.

A&R man Tom Werman suggested[2] that the date at the Astor Theater in Reading, PA (31 August 1976) yielded the best performances, and was going to provide the bulk of the album at the time of his involvement in the project. Beck mixed this along with other recordings at Allen Toussaint's studio in New Orleans.

Then Jan Hammer decided to mix the album himself, and did so with Dennis Weinreich at Scorpio Sound Studios in London, England.

The stereo spectrum of this album duplicates the stage set-up with guitar positioned center right, keyboards center left, violin right and drums and bass center.

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=jeff+beck

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=jan+hammer

Tracks Listing:

1. Freeway Jam
2. Earth (Still Our Only Home)
3. She's A Woman
4. Full Moon Boogie
5. Darkness /Earth In Search Of A Sun
6. Scatterbrain
7. Blue Wind

Total time 44:30

Personnel:

    Jeff Beck - guitar, bass guitar, special effects

The Jan Hammer Group

    Jan Hammer - Moog, Oberheim and Freeman string symphonizer synthesizers, electric piano, timbales; lead vocal on "Earth (Still Our Only Home)"
    Tony "Thunder" Smith - drums; lead vocal on "Full Moon Boogie"
    Fernando Saunders - bass, harmony vocals; rhythm guitar on "She's A Woman"
    Steve Kindler - violin; string synthesizer on "Darkness"; rhythm guitar on "Blue Wind"

Beck, Bogert & Appice - 1973 "Beck, Bogert & Appice"

Beck, Bogert & Appice were a rock supergroup and power trio formed by guitarist Jeff Beck and evolving from The Jeff Beck Group. The line up included bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice who were both previously in Vanilla Fudge and Cactus. Beck, Bogert & Appice is the 1973 debut album by the band Beck, Bogert & Appice. The group was a power trio featuring guitarist Jeff Beck (who had already been a member of The Yardbirds).

The album contains Beck's version of the song "Superstition" which was written by Stevie Wonder. Beck had appeared on Wonder's original recording of the song in 1972. Beck, Bogert & Appice was released in both conventional 2-channel stereo and 4-channel quadraphonic versions. This was the band's only studio album, as Beck's departure forced a sudden dissolution in 1974.

One of the great things about Jeff Beck is his utter unpredictability. It's also one of the most maddening things about him, too, since it's as likely to lead to flights of genius as it is to weird detours like Beck, Bogert & Appice. It's hard to tell what exactly attracted Beck to the rhythm section of Vanilla Fudge and Cactus -- perhaps he just wanted to rock really loud and really hard, beating Led Zeppelin at their own game. Whatever the motivation, the end result was the same -- a leaden album, with occasional interesting guitar work smothered by heavy riffs and rhythms that don't succeed on a visceral level. It's a loud, lumbering record that may be of interest for Beck archivists, provided they want to hear absolutely everything he did.

In an era rife with hastily assembled supergroups, the union of guitarist Jeff Beck, vocalist/bassist Tim Bogert and drummer/vocalist Carmine Appice into a power trio – named simply Beck Bogert and Appice – was unusually long in the making.

Although the power trio’s eponymous debut album was released in March of 1973, the three men had first discussed working together as far back as 1967, when Bogert and Appice still constituted the rhythm section of New York psych-rockers Vanilla Fudge, and Beck was constructing his first solo group following an angry departure from the Yardbirds.

But on that occasion, Beck wound up staffing the Jeff Beck Group with fellow Brits instead, recruiting Ronnie Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, Micky Waller on drums and Rod Stewart on vocals, while Bogert and Appice carried on a while longer with Vanilla Fudge.

It would take two years before the three musicians' planets aligned themselves once again and, by all accounts, the superstar Beck Bogert and Appice was primed and ready for action in the fall of ’69 – until Beck suffered a serious car accident that laid him out for the better part of a year.

Rather than sit around twiddling their thumbs, Bogert and Appice once again sought to find creative satisfaction elsewhere, forming Cactus with singer Rusty Day and guitarist Jim McCarty (formerly of Mitch Ryder's Detroit Wheels), and quickly churning out four studio albums within the next two years.

At last, once Cactus was laid to rest in late 1972, Bogert and Appice finally joined a now-fully recovered Jeff Beck on the road in order to hone their musical chemistry, before heading into the studio to record their debut LP that December.

But while it was received by great fan anticipation and major press coverage a few months later, Beck Bogert and Appice ultimately climbed no higher than No. 28 in the U.K. chart and No. 12 in the U.S., where it scored only a modest hit single via a cover of Stevie Wonder’s "Superstition."

Perhaps the slight disconnect resulted from the broad range of musical styles covered here, which included everything from heavy blues to funk to vintage rock and borderline MOR moments. There was also the trio’s reliance on externally penned material – or even the simple fact that mainstream awareness of their names was no longer what it had been when the first flirted with collaborating, nearly six years prior.

Whatever the reasons, Beck Bogert and Appice still delivered more than enough instrumental virtuosity and sheer star power for musos and other serious devotees, who flocked to their concerts throughout 1973. What’s more, they generally testified to the incremental power they displayed on stage versus on record.

Alas, after touring extensively across the U.K., Europe, America and the Far East (where recordings were captured for Live (In Japan), which was rush-released that October), Beck Bogert and Appice disintegrated abruptly in January of 1974, having barely begun working on sessions for its proposed sophomore album.

Despite the lengthy lead-up and numerous false-starts, that was the end of this supergroup.

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 Track listing:

1. Black Cat Moan     3:47
2. Lady     5:33
3. Oh To Love You     4:05
4. Superstition     4:19
5. Sweet Sweet Surrender     3:58
6. Why Should I Care     3:33
7. Lose Myself With You     3:18
8. Livin' Alone     4:13
9. I'm So Proud     4:11

Personnel:

Jeff Beck - Guitar
Tim Bogert - Bass
Carmen Appice - Drums

Tommy Bolin - 1976 [1996] "Live At Northern Lights"

Recorded just two and a half months before Tommy Bolin's untimely drug-related death, the Tommy Bolin Band are heard playing in an intimate setting for an FM broadcast (after spending the summer of 1976 playing huge stadiums with the likes of Steve Miller, Peter Frampton, ZZ Top, and Rush). Surprisingly, the production is a lot more raw than the other live CDs issued through the Tommy Bolin Archives label, which is strange, since it was taped in a recording studio.

The playing is quite ragged, and although it does at times catch fire, the performance is not as inspired as past Tommy Bolin concert releases. Tommy's younger brother Johnny joined the band on drums a few months prior to the Live at Northern Lights taping, and he proves to be quite a solid drummer, especially during the improvisation of the sadly prophetic "Post Toastee," which warns about the dangers of drug burnout. Also of note are the sullen ballad "Wild Dogs," and the saxophone workout "You Told Me That You Loved Me" (which was rarely played live by the band). But like the version found on the From the Archives, Vol. 1 release, "Shake the Devil" is again off-key, which takes away from the powerful Zeppelin stomp of the studio take. Although it has its moments, Live at Northern Lights is not the best Tommy Bolin in-concert release of the bunch.

Tommy Bolin was truly a worldwide gift to rock music and guitar enthusiasts everywhere. There will never be another Tommy Bolin, a guitar genius who continues to enthrall generations of aspiring musicians and music lovers with the many fine recordings and concert performances he had made during his short time on Earth.
Tommy developed all types of rock, jazz, blues, folk, and progressive sounds from his guitar and in his writing with his all of his solo works as well as his hard driven artistry with his membership in bands like Deep Purple, James Gang, Zephyr and Energy.

As Tommy Bolin was really building himself and his new band The Tommy Bolin Band into new and exciting territory, Bolin was able to capture a lot of his live and studio workings into the rare collective known as The Tommy Bolin Archives, and this leads us to the long anticipated first time vinyl release of his amazing 1976 Boston concert Northern Lights.

Remastered impeccably by Joe Reagoso (Jeff Beck, Yes, Deep Purple) for the first time on audiophile vinyl, The Tommy Bolin Band s Northern Lights will truly become one of the most important and historical 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl titles in quite some time.

Noted for his stellar guitar work, pretty much introducing new ways of using technique, distortion and effects to a whole new generation of guitar players, Northern Lights is truly a primer for a ton of rock and blues artists.

Check out his dynamic prowess on hits Teaser , Post Toastee and the hard rockin You Told Me That You Loved Me.

Never forgetting progressive roots, Tommy and the band exell on the Bolin classic Wild Dogs. Plus his rock and reggae classic People People show a glimpse of what this superstar was capable of and the promise that he truly had before his untimely loss in 1976.

Friday Music is no stranger to the music of the legendary Tommy Bolin, with his arsenal of fine recordings already on our label. That is why we are so very proud to announce our first installment in The Tommy Bolin/Friday Music 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl Series with his legendary masterwork Northern Lights"

This CD was a pleasant suprize. Tommy is in good form, and I find it to be a great example of Tommy live.(I think it's better than the 2 Deep Purple recordings, and the live recordings on Vol.1 of From the Archives)It is essential for any Tommy Bolin fan. The band is on point too. I enjoyed every minute of this CD.

Tommy’s live concert recorded for WBCN Radio in September of 1976 at The Northern Lights Recording Studio in Maynard, Massachusetts. This performance is famous for it’s over the top, abandon filled rendition of “Post Toastee.” So now, enjoy the archives enhanced fidelity from this performance that is taken from the radio broadcast master that was given to the Archives by Carter Allan, Music Director of WBCN, and a huge Tommy fan.

Track listing:

1     Teaser     5:55
2     People People     7:55
3     You Told Me That You Loved Me     5:12
4     Wild Dogs     10:17
5     Shake The Devil     4:35
6     Post Toastee     13:30
7     Homeward Strut     10:06

    Recorded At – The Northern Lights Recording Studio

Personnel:

    Guitar, Vocals, Producer [Original Live Recording] – Tommy Bolin
    Bass – Jimmy Haslip
    Drums – Johnny Bolin*   
    Keyboards, Vocals – Mark Stein
    Saxophone, Vocals – Norma Jean Bell