Coalition of the Willing (Dig)

Bobby Previte | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 2, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rope-a-Dope
• ASIN: B000F4RHOS
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #305,565 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anthemic jazz to die for, May 4, 2006

By 

Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coalition of the Willing (Dig) (Audio CD)

We've had a spate of politically contextualized instrumental jazz lately (Charlie Haden's Not in Our Name, Ben Allison's Cowboy Justice, Marty Ehrlich's News on the Rail, and others), but none as successful as Bobby Previte's latest.

First off, although it comes wrapped in gaudy communist garb (with red background, single star, raised fists, etc.), it's hard to tell if the take here is laudatory or ironic--the latter, I'm thinking, especially as it sports a lengthy quote from Orwell's 1984, a kind of deconstruction of totalitarian regimes, which, even as it references Marx's Hegelian social dialectic, simultaneously proclaims the futility of revolutionary correctives.

Second, instead of long-winded rants against the heinousness of the Bush administration, the liner notes and packaging thematically express more of a non-specific desire for human freedom (an entirely legitimate sentiment) than catalog any particular socio-political ills to be redressed, let alone regimes to brought down or verbally excoriated. What this does is free the music from attachment to any potentially spurious, time-bound parties or movements and thereby achieve a kind of timeless anthemic purity. (It also enables a Catholic conservative like myself to enjoy it without any qualms.)

And what music it is! Ringing guitars, pounding drums, sick organ swells, outrageous trumpet blats, wailing saxes. And although every single cut is absolutely top notch, four stand out: "Airstrip One," with its insanely powerful dual drumming (extra percussion courtesy of Stanton Moore), "The Inner Party," featuring the dual slide guitars of Charlie Hunter and Stew Cutler, the hugely evocative anthemic ballad, "Memory Hole," showcasing the insane sax of Skerik and the very weirdly out-yet-in-the-pocket harmonica of Stew Cutler plus a perfect Al Caiola coda thanks to Charlie Hunter, and the topper, the U 2-ish "Anthem for Andrea," with Jamie Saft channeling the spirit of The Edge, Skerik's searing sax, Previte's hortatory drumming, and a sound so huge as to relegate all pretend anthem-purveyors to oblivion.

Listen. This is it. Workers of the world unite. Join hands with the downtrodden and oppressed throughout all of history. Come, you poor, you marginalized, you immigrants, you untouchables, you lepers, you AIDS victims, you Maoris, you American Indians, you oppressed, you wage-slaves: Here is music to express your deepest heart-cries, your alienation, your poverty, your invisibility.

Thank you, Bobby Previte. You have made a disc of stunning originality and significance.

My record of the year. Hands down.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Where do I sign up?, April 27, 2009

By 

Mean Streak (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coalition of the Willing (Dig) (Audio CD)

Take a group of highly talented jazzmen - you've got Skerik, Stanton moore and Charlie Hunter to name a few - and get them to cut their teeth on the sonic 'blaze' that is Previte's imagination, and you get a spontaneous hard drivin' energy that you can feel as much as hear. This is a great piece of all-out-brawling rock-jazz. It breaks the mould of genre-bound categorization and presents a fresh contemporary approach to instrumental music.

I first heard of Previte in relation to his Latitude series of discs he cut with Charlie Hunter, but have not yet had the chance to sample that series. After hearing this, that's my next stop. Previte's coalition of the willing? Where do I sign up!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a good project that's missing something, November 8, 2008

By 

schmoogie (Tampa, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coalition of the Willing (Dig) (Audio CD)

"The Coalition of the Willing" (TCOTW) is an interesting venture. For this effort, Bobby Previte put together a great band with the likes of bigwigs such as Charlie Hunter, Stanton Moore and Skerik. The music is rock inspired jazz. The flavor is consistent with like-minded artists on the Ropeadope label. Indeed, "TCOTW" will appeal to listeners of jam based music such as the Benevento & Russo Duo, Critters Buggin' and T.J. Kirk. While heavy weight champion Charlie Hunter participates, his signature sound is strangely absent. This bland offering lacks memorable melodies and power solos. That written, every track has a fantastic sound. In this respect, the CD unintentionally works well in the background. I saw this incarnation of TCOTW live. My hope was that the mediocrity of this CD was due to the difficulty of capturing improvisational magic in the studio. Unfortunately, this project was just as lackluster on stage. Almost all of the other reviews for this project are glowing and I now believe that there is a vocal minority. It's not just me because by the end of the band's set, most of the audience had disappeared. In any case, "Coalition of the Willing" is an enjoyable background listen.