Wallace Roney - Jazz

[randyhersom]

Anybody heard this one yet? Geri Allen's on it, so I'll probably grab from eMusic soon.

[randyhersom]

Downloaded and have listened a couple times. I like it. At the very beginning purists may be concerned as synths, vocal interjections and a bit of turntable wrap around a funky bass clarinet groove, but when Geri Allen and then Wallace come in, the modernizations are mild flavorings wrapped around a seventies hard-bop groove that wouldn't be out of place on a Woody Shaw or Lee Morgan album. Tracks two to four are in the early electric Miles neighborhood. Track eight's melody is maddeningly familiar, I finally figure out that it's Sly Stone, and a look at the track titles confirms - it's Stand! If anything, too tasteful. Very nice but makes no attempt to match the original's exuberance. Some impressive unison playing highlights the appropriately flashy closer, Bud Powell's Un Poco Loco.

[JSngry]

Just had a listen, and was taken by how g.d pleasant the entire affair was.

It's the type of album that would have been a blast to hear in the '70s. As it is, it's still "fun", but hardly...necessary. Nevertheless, it's a good, fun listen, if that's all you're looking for.

Still, if you wanna look at it like the obsession with the Plugged Nickel '60s is now being replaced with an obsession over the Electric/Eclectic '70s, then hey, in some parallel universe with streets coated with hot tar and cold molasses, then hey - things are moving ahead!