Customer Reviews

Footloose & Fancy Free

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have to agree with the reviewer below. Downbeat magazine rarely hands out "five-star" reviews. This one certainly deserves it. Bill Bruford has been sharpening his Earthworks saw for a long time and "FootLoose & Fancy Free" is the essence of all the previous recordings. This music actually swings. I am so impressed with the way the compositions come together. From a high energy fusion approch to a quiet gentle ballad to full out swinging. This music is filled with great improvisations and group chemistry. The solos are first rate, especially the pianist who reminds me of a young Keith Jarratt. Bruford comes across as a very intelligent drummer with a great ear for talent. His approach reminds me of Art Blakely - taking young talent and stretching their capability around fabulous music. This CD will stay in my changer for a long time. Great job Earthworks. My ears are perking.

This two CD set is absolutely astounding. Downbeat magazine gave this set 5 stars... an honor they bestow on only a few recordings out of the hundreds they review each year. There is a reason... this recording is an absolute masterpiece. This live set is performed on saxophone, piano, and acoustic bass, and of course includes Bruford's exceptional drumming. The compositions by Bruford further the case that he is a fantastic musician as well as drummer. Pick this up... anyone who like acoustic jazz will not be disappointed.

Deploying a set mostly culled from the band's two most recent albums, 'The Sound Of Surprise' and 'A Part and Yet Apart', this live workout from Bruford's Earthworks catches them in fine fettle at London's Pizza Express. (There is a matching DVD from a New York concert on the same tour with a substantially similar selection of material, a Bruford interview and discogragaphy.)

Additional pieces here include 'If Summer Had Its Ghosts', the title track from the album of the same name with Eddie Gomez and Ralph Towner, and 'Original Sin' from the Bruford-Levin Upper Extremities project. The ever-popular 'Bridge of Inhibition' (from the first Earthworks outing way back in 1987) is also included as an encore.

I was fortunate enough to attend the concerts from which this was recorded. It doesn't quite capture the energy of the front row, of course. But 'Footloose And Fancy Free' is, as you would expect, a high quality recording and a fitting rendition of the band that could almost give 'fusion' a good name. On this occasion we are spared between-music patter, which means that we do not have to endure the leader's constant (unnecessary) apologies for past incursions in Yes and King Crimson. His jazz credentials are testified eloquently by the music, so why he needs to dig up old turf is a mystery. It's as if he doesn't quite believe how far he's come himself.

If you haven't heard them lately, Earthworks as a unit have also moved well away from their earlier experimentations around Bruford's electronic chordal drum set, opting instead for a more orthodox acoustic quartet. Or perhaps that should be heterodox, for the quirky spirit of Django Bates and Iain Ballamy lives on in their absence. This latest line-up is angular, joyfully melodic in a non-obvious way, polyrhythmic, and deliberately transgressive of received musical categories.

Steve Hamilton on piano and Mark Hodgson on bass (brought in after an earlier dalliance with Geoff Gascoyne) pass muster as much by their ability to listen to and re-absorb musical ideas as by their prodigious playing talents.

Patrick Clahar on sax, who features on this album, has now been replaced by Tim Garland, courtesy of Chick Corea and a thundering reputation on the burgeoning London jazz scene. He will bring added compositional depth and material to an already powerful line-up.

Bruford's own ever-maturing writing credits make him infinitely more than a drummer and percussionist, as he is eager for us to realise. And, yes, in spite of my comment on his over-concern about those rock roots, he *is* right. Forget 'prog': buy this.

Bruford has indeed struck gold if not platinum with this lineup. This recording from London's Pizza Express Jazz Club demonstrates how hundreds of live shows and studio hours have increased their tightness as a unit and have heightened their sense of musical adventurousness since the 1999 release of "A Part and Yet Apart."

The double live CD is absolutely incredible, capturing the nuances of what makes Earthworks such fantastic live performers, from Bruford's anchoring of this fine quartet and Patrick's smoldering sax lines to Steve Hamilton's matchless piano work and Mark Hodgson's rich, swinging bass. The inclusion of Bruford-Levin Upper Extremities' "Original Sin," as well as the Earthworks classic "Bridge of Inhibition," lends a particularly delicious edge to the ensemble's already heady repertoire. "Dewey-Eyed Then Dancing" and "Come to Dust" recall the intensity of your first love and make you smile for a time afterwards in reminiscence. Steve Hamilton's gorgeous introduction to "Come to Dust" showcases the maturity of his playing and the tender care he takes with Bruford's compositions.

Another wonderful treatment of a pre-"Apart" tune comes with the
Bruford/Towner/Gomez title track, "If Summer Had Its Ghosts," with Patrick Clahar lending his tenor to Towner's sinewy melodies.

The "Footloose" version of the finale anthem "Bridge of Inhibition" features a sax and piano interlude unique to this lineup, and one that changes the tone of the whole tune, even as previously performed by this incarnation of Earthworks.

Of particular note is "The Wooden Man Dances and the Stone Woman Sings," a powerful track from the 2001 release "The Sound of Surprise." Bruford shines here and his unbridled passion for his jazz roots is self-evident. For those fortunate enough to have ever seen this group live, you well know what a joy Bruford and his colleagues are to watch on stage. Bruford maintains the enthusiasm of a child on his instrument yet plays with the focus and seeming effortlessness that have earned him his status as a drumming legend. Patrick, Mark and Steve each possess a richness and depth beyond their years that evokes the playing of many jazz legends of the 50s and 60s.

Fusion Queen gives it two thumbs up, and 1000 wet lashes with a Vic Firth drumstick if you miss them next time they come to your local venue. They are touring on the East Coast in May (I am praying daily for dates to be added out west!).

I've figured out exactly what it is I think about this band, and why their music has been striking me differently at different times, depending on mood and level of focus.

The rhythm section (Bruford, Hamilton, and Hodgson) are truly great. I'm talking about great like Carter-Williams-Hancock were great. And like Jones-Tyner-Garrison were great. They are really that good. It is an extreme joy to listen to them, to how fluid and creative they are.

The soloist on top fails to generate much excitement in addition, though. He just kind of plays lines. His function is much like Charlie Rouse on Thelonious Monk's records - don't look to the saxophone for the excitement, it's really going on in the background.

Once you know what to listen for, you might enjoy this recording immensely, as I do. It's perfectly recorded. The compositions are quite interesting. And the band's style is a source of great pleasure to me - they remind me of the best of the music Keith Jarrett made with his Norwegian (if I remember correctly) band. But with a more fluid and active drummer. Frankly I love this music.

As a long time fan of Bruford's drumming, I found this CD to be very suffice in showing that Bruford hasn't lost it at nearly 60 years of age. The only thing that's different with his playing is that he's matured tremendously.
The first track "Footloose and Fancy Free" is simply magnificent. The 5/8 or 10/8 groove is slightly reminiscent of a mozambique pattern. The highlights of this track are definitely the saxophone solo, and the way the band is able to bring everything down enough to hear a pin drop, then just explode.
Also, I like the Miles Davis approach of Bruford. He's nearly 60, yet he's drumming with guys less than half his age, and keeping up very well. Let me rephrase that: they're keeping up with him pretty well.
Bottom Line: one of the best live performances I've ever heard. Bruford hasn't lost a step.

If you like Earthworks, get this double live CD! The playing is flawless. The tunes sound BETTER than the studio recording. I met Bill Bruford when he played at a pub called Michael's in Boston. One of the most non-pretentious & decent human beings on the planet, as well as being a risky take chances drummer. This record showcase Earthworks and the modern jazz they are about. This is not the fusion stuff we associate Bill Bruford with. This is equally complex in a more accessable light. And it is done completely live! No need for the studio ones if you get this. Awesone spin!

BB never fails to impress. His ablity and desire to play, essentially, 'never the same way once' is brilliant. I look forward to the DVD if only just to compare the differences between the same tunes and different gigs. I do wish they would incorporate more of the older tunes into the playlist, BB can certainly make up for any "loss" that would occur from playing parts that were written for the chordal drum(s), but a killer selection, nontheless. Buy it! 'Lumpy jazz' at it's finest (to quote The Man himself.

This is a double CD recording of the all-acoustic version of Bill Bruford's great jazz band Earthworks. Can one say that a "jazz" album "rocks"? Well - it does! This recording is nearly as good as being there - which I was when the band was in Seattle last summer. The sound quality is near-perfect, and the band is really tight and highly energized - just as they were when I saw them. Bill was the original drummer in the rock group Yes, and he brought his jazzy energy to that otherwise somewhat pretentious group of musicians. Similarly, his experience with rock music infuses the world of jazz with angles and interpretations you don't hear anywhere else. This is real musicianship, a great CD!

Another fine effort from Bruford, whose quality control on his solo projects has been outstanding. Those who felt the last two Earthworks projects were too safe compared to earlier efforts will be pleasantly rewarded on this one. The group is freer in approach, and they sound as though their musical communication is on the highest level. Really good stuff.