Although Bill Bruford has been a member of the most prestigious prog acts ever (King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, UK) his true love has to be found in the direction of jazz and pure experiment. Together with "buddy" Tony Levin, guitarist David Torn and trumpet player Chris Botti, Bill delivers some "difficult to swallow" material by means of the Bruford Levin Upper Extremities project. Recorded at various locations throughout the States, the double album Blue Nights is a pattern-card of what this foursome is capable of. In "Etude Revisited" you get that repetitive pattern which has been apparent during the latest King Crimson reincarnation and which has been so inspiring for upcoming talent such as Ozone Quartet, Priam, Xang and Anomaly. In "Cerulean Sea" an ambient intro makes way for some fierce bass slapping which almost removed my speakers from their hinges! The interaction between Bruford's jazzy drums, the soulful bass playing of Levin and the occasional trumpet of Botti make "Original Sin" one hell of a unique experience. If you thought the solo escapades of Bruford on albums like Feels Good To Me and One Of A Kind were awesome then please note that all of that superb stuff has been left aside in favour of Earthworks and BLUE which in turn is not so evident, pure jazz. The fact that there was an audience present was a bonus for the band because you can clearly hear that the four had a wonderful time and "fun" on stage regardless if there was a public or not. So Blue Nights certainly isn't an album which you put in your CD-player whilst your doing the dishes. Personally I preferred Bruford when he was creative with Annette Peacock. Blue for me is a bit too much to really appreciate, a little bit too technical and too sketchy instead of outlined compositions.
Reviewed by: John 'Bo Bo' Bollenberg |
