What has drummer Dennis Chambers got to do with the above lot?
Umm! Let's see! He's very funky, OK? Guitarist
on the session John Scofield is a bit of a legend himself,
having played with just about everybody, including Miles Davis.
While "Outbreak" (ESC Records)
might not have the broad palette of the above-reviewed, its raw
hard as nail approach will certainly have everyone shaking.
Slinky organ, sax, piano, John's hair-raising
guitar breaks and plenty of driving backbeats….and being
a drum-led session Dennis just loves to spice the proceedings
with some jaw-dropping drum rolls here and there.
Even though this is a full-on session, there's
oodles of variety, interplay and stimulating tempo shifts with
some of the music exploding into the wild polyrhythmic jazz-funk
that Miles mapped out in the 70s. The body might still at these
moments but the head won't. Just the stuff needed to send your
Liberace-loving mother-in-law packing.
It's sobering to think that these 4 releases,
all of them released within the last 6 months not only contain
many of the innovators of the two main branches of the funk genre
but also prove that the music is alive and kicking furiously.
For those whose concept of funk rests solely on its sound as a
marketing mantra for the conservative corporate world above are
four telling reasons to get on down and out of the elevator. RJ
July 2003
