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I admit to be
jealous at times. Jealous that I can’t play any instrument at all
because if you listen to fusion then you know what a great feeeling
it must be to complement eachother. More so than any other style of
music, jazz does exactly that, giving each single musician plenty of
opportunities to do his or her thing to the best of his or her
abilities. Putting together three of the world’s best musicians
results in a musical orgasm that is a treat both for the musician as
well as the unexpecting musiclover. Jing Chi consists of top of the
range musicians who all have plenty of experience in order to
deliver some cooking music noone else would be able to produce.
Drummer Vinnie
Colaiuta and bassplayer Jimmy Haslip both played with Steely Dan and
this reference alone should be more than enough if you’re a music
buff. Vinnie also worked alongside Frank Zappa and Sting whilst
Jimmy lended his talents to the likes of Tommy Bolin and Gino
Vannelli before founding his very own fusion outfit the
Grammy-nominated Yellowjackets. Add to that the unique guitarsound
of Robben Ford who was a member of the band backing Miles Davis in
’86 and you get a clear picture of the sheer genius which houses
inside this Jing Chi. Although keeping a respected distance, for
these live outings the trio has also incorporated keyboardplayer
Otmaro Ruiz.
Recorded over three
consecutive nights at Yoshi’s, Oakland, CA, it’s mainly Ruiz’s
pianosolo’s which put the band into a jazz direction whilst all the
other elements firmly put the label fusion onto the Jing Chi music.
Opening track ‘That road’ immediately puts spice into it all fuelled
by Vinnie’s powerful groove. The nice thing with this kind of music
is also the fact that the audience has respect for it’s musicians
resulting in absolute silence when it’s needed which is why you can
hear every subtle detail of the quiet intro for ‘Going nowhere’.
Again I will be very honest here and tell you that I don’t find
Ruiz’s contributions fitting to this song at all. Much better is his
organ intervention during ‘The Hong Kong incident’ which is yet
another highlight for Robben Ford giving it a slight Niacin feel.
Sometimes you wonder who is enjoying this music more : the musicians
or the audience ? During ‘Stan key’, Robben demonstrates his wah-wah
technique whilst a softer, almost George Benson-like side is heard
during ‘What goes around’. It’s out with the funky horses in ‘Crazy
house’ in which Ruiz attacks his synth as if he was Alan Gowen’s
twin brother. Contrary to what you might think but in order to break
down the monotony of all instrumental music (although you never get
bored with these guys !), Jing Chi also includes some vocal tracks
in their set. One of them is the Bob Dylan cover ‘Cold irons bound’
sung here by Robben Ford in a slight funky/cajun style. The musical
enjoyment gets a final highlight when Marc Russo adds his alto
saxophone on the laidback ‘Blues MD’ which holds the middle between
authentic blues and jazz. In fact it’s the blues format which
enables every single musician to shine individually. And a well
deserved ovation it is ! |
