Customer Reviews

Backbone

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BACKBONE by The Bill Barrett Quartet is truly unique among recordings of harmonica jazz/blues. It's as if Jimmy Smith, Lonnie Smith, Charles Earland, George Benson, John McLaughlin, Kenny Burrell along with Little Walter, Big Walter Horton and Charlie Musselwhite all sat down and recorded an album together. Stylistically it falls in the categories of Hard,Post Bop/Soul Jazz/Blues and is very funky as well. Not sure whether Barrett is playing diatonic (and if he is, definitely not just in cross harp mode) or if he plays exclusively chromatic harp. Almost sounds like some type of adjusted-reed Chromatic or third position diatonic harmonica. Whatever it is, his tone is HUGE and also very melodic (Track 1 "Where Green Is Blue" and even on the straight blues Track 3 "Bluzo" where he (and the rest of the guys, real jazz musicians all!) go from intensly melodic to very experimental, bop/free/post-bop sounding). Excellent support on Hammond B-3/Piano by Waybe Peet (he wrote two of the tracks on this disc) and Guitar and Drums by Ken Lasaine (contributes one track as composer/writer)and Russell Bizzet, respectively. The organ and rhythm section truly drive this recording as Barrett (credited for 4 original tunes of the 9) riffs, dives, swoops, and sounds like, at any given time, Little Walter (if he'd studied bop or free jazz) or a jazz saxophonist in the vain of Lou Donaldson, Stanley Turrentine, or even Roland Kirk and Eric Dolphy. In total, this recording both takes chances musically and really swings!! All lovers of Swing, Hard Bop and Soul Jazz--and especially of harmonica--should hear these unique artists immediately!

Barrett and his group have made an instrumental album that is an homage to those great 60's bluenote artists like Lou Donaldson and Jimmy McGriff.Barrett blows incredible harp throughout,sometimes sounding like Coltrane in his sheets of sound period,The band and songs are all fantastic.If Medeski Martin and Wood teamed up with Charlie Hunter to back up little Walter jonesin' on the Trane this is what it would sound like.Major Bash and Where green is blue are good tracks to start with but the whole CD is just as amazing.My favorite harmonica CD in years.