Groove Alchemy

Stanton Moore | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: April 13, 2010
• Release Date: April 13, 2010
• Label: Telarc
• Copyright: (C) 2010 Stanton Moore
• Record Company Required Metadata: Music file contains unique purchase identifier. Learn more.
• Total Length: 54:07
• Genres:
• ASIN: B003F6ROH8
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,879 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These Grooves are Solid!, April 28, 2010

By 

Kevin Currie-Knight "Education Grad Student" (Newark, Delaware) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Groove Alchemy (Audio CD)

As if I didn't already know it, I must say that Stanton Moore, Robert Walter, and Will Bernard have some serious chemistry. This trio, that has also appeared on Stanton's CD III and other projects, moves very well together, and this disc is no exception. Intended to be a tour of funk drumming's history, Stanton makes sure that many different types of grooves, from old New Orleans swingin' ones to fatback syncopated ones, are represented here.

The songs are great. Two favorites of mine are the first two tracks. Squash Blossom is a slightly swinging forceful mid-tempo song. Pie-Eyed Manic is so syncopated that I almost dare you to find where beat 1 actually is! It is guaranteed to get your neck and hips shaking. Keep on Gwine is an ultra-slow New Orleans number reminiscent of something out of a speak-easy, but MAN it grooves! Up to Here is a mid-tempo, powerful, shuffle you'd hear in a Texas Road House. Neeps and Tatties is all Meters. And that is only, I think, half the songs.

The playing is fantastic. Walter's syncopated organ lines really gel with Moore's booming bass and snare. Will Bernard is as versatile as ever, comfortable playing slide guitar as he is getting jazzy. For an album by a drummer, Moore does not hog much of the spotlight by way of solos, which is (as a drummer myself) as it should be. He earns attention just by grooving. There aren't many who can groove like he.

So, if you like funk, you really need to hear this album. It is every bit as good as III and Will Bernard's latest Blue Plate Special. These grooves are solid!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Groove-a-licious!, April 17, 2010

By 

Flipkid (Cockeysville, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Groove Alchemy (Audio CD)

Yet another amazing, groove-laden set from Stanton Moore, Will Bernard and (the incredible) Robert Walter. If you don't tap your foot and bob your head to every track on this album, just take yourself straight to the morgue... 'cause you're a goner.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Effortless well-played grooves, July 9, 2010

By 

OffBeat Magazine - See all my reviews

This review is from: Groove Alchemy (Audio CD)

Groove Alchemy the CD is only one part of Groove Alchemy, the larger project that comes with a DVD and instructional book. The project takes drummers and those interested in funk drumming inside Stanton Moore's process of developing grooves, and the CD presents those grooves in action. The drummers who infuenced him the most are James Brown drummers Jabo Starks and Clyde Stubblefeld, and the Meters' Zigaboo Modeliste; not surprisingly, most of the tracks on Groove Alchemy draw from Brown and the Meters' traditions.

The relative lack of concept means that there's not a lot of news on the album, but it's also Moore, Robert Walter and Will Bernard at their most relaxed. As a result, it's also Moore's trio at its most straightforward and funky. The closest thing to a curveball is a dirge-like version of George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," led by Walter's organ. Walter switches to the piano for a version of James Booker's "Keep on Gwine," but the track's more about Moore's loping version of a second line groove than about Walter's dexterity.

Those tracks are the exceptions, though. Groove Alchemy's funky, and because it's part of an educational project, it's not showy. Instead, the trio is modeling how effortless a well-played groove can sound and how effective it can be with sympathetic players.--OffBeat Magazine, April 2010 issue