Customer Reviews

Last Dance of Mr X

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is my all time favorite Andy solo disc. I saw him perform quite a few of these songs live in a small jazz supper club here in Los Angeles, where he would frequently perform in the late 90's. Andy is so charming in person, the kind of performer who comes out and chats with the audience after the set. I've had numerous chats with him about various topics over the years, and it's my feeling that his charm, wit and wicked sense of humor is displayed perfectly on this disc. To see Big Thing, one of my favorites, performed live is a must.

Andy is an accomplished musician, and this release really opened that facet of Summers to me. I like it, it's good, it's jazzy, it's blue, it's happy.... it's just a good release. All the recording guests shine. The percussion/drummers REALLY shine -- BRAVO!!!

Performers
Gregg Bissonette : Drums
Bernie Dresel : Drums
Tony Levin : Bass
Andy Summers : Guitar, Vocals
Jerry Jr. Watts : Bass

Andy Summers is definitely one of the most creative guitarists of all time! He gets better & better with each release, & that is not something you can say of many artists. The Last Dance of Mr. X takes the listener through many moods, like a journey. Tony Levin plays bass on all but one track, & is well suited to Andy's unique style of guitar playing. Greg Bissonette plays drums on most tracks. Only the first song is reserved for Andy's touring band- it is an earlier song of Andy's called "Big Thing"- and the band rips through it live. I even hear a little "Sunshine of Your Love" thrown in for good measure. The cd is half new compositions from Andy, and half Jazz covers. I find myself throwing it in the cd player & listening to it again & again.

I am playing this CD everyday and every time it sounds better. ME ENCANTA LA TECNICA DE SUMMERS. Es realmente un guitarrista muy depurado, Una mezcla de Martino , Metheny y Hall. Every guitar lover should buy this one!

A most interesting yet, on first acquaintance, seemingly self indulgent album based almost entirely on just electric guitar (there's some acoustic in the background on tracks 2 and 11), Tony Levin on (presumably his monster three string fretless) electric bass and, on drums, an exceedingly nifty fellow called Gregg Bissonette who, back in the late nineties, seemed to be getting about all over the place. This album is, however, much more than an indulgence.

Recorded in just over a week, mostly in LA, using HDCD encoding (which certainly does work), the tracks are a mix of AS originals (four, plus one co-written) and earlier compositions from the likes of Wayne Shorter, Mongo Santamaria and Thelonius Monk, arranged magnificently in a fully contemporary setting. Much virtuosity is in evidence here, for example the cover of Horace Silver's Lonely Woman, which bears comparison with the remarkable version on Pat Metheny's 1984 album Rejoicing (though Billy Higgins' amazingly ambient, bloomy wash of brushed cymbal sound remains unsurpassed).

The opening track, recorded for some reason in NYC, is said to be augmented by (Keiko Matsui's) Bernie Dresel on drums and (Wishful Thinking's) Jerry Watts on bass and, although it takes a good few hearings to fall into place with what follows, it's grown on me big time, including as it does a shameless rip-off of the central riff from the Cream's Sunshine Of Your Love.

Though bearing in places faint echoes of it, this certainly isn't a continuation of 1991's (brilliant) World Gone Strange, being somewhat more sombre (in places) and introspective, though not without its joyfully light and airy moments as well. Mind you, it isn't easy listening either, though this is simply because the arrangements and their execution are so very accomplished and immaculately executed that they simply can't be ignored as background swash. Fave tracks are Afro Blue (by Mongo Santamaria) and Footprints (by Wayne Shorter), the latter containing some superbly crisp, fiery and fluid drumming overlaid by furious Robin Trower-like guitar work (better, in fact) and underpinned by Levin's fluidly restless, roving and awesomely potent bass lines. And in amongst all this, AS' own compositions are verging on the wondrous as well.

To carp, I suppose one might wish for a bit more colour in the form of perhaps some Hammond B3 organ, but this is a failing of the most trivial insignificance. A near total masterpiece of an album really and all the more praiseworthy considering how long he's been around, including stints with the Animals in their later incarnation and, of course, with The Police.

The sheer range of styles and sounds of Mr Summers' guitar playing is superb as well, though not to the extent that the album overall sounds in any way disjointed or uneven. Quite the contrary, in fact ~ this is a wonderfully coherent and cohesive work from a true master of his instrument, quite the best of all his albums that I've yet heard. There's absolutely nothing wrong with his work as a member of the Police, but The Last Dance of Mr X is, by comparison, in a whole other league of excellence and, sad to say, many people will never even know of it. But then it is jazz I suppose and, to many people, jazz is a closed book. They don't know what they're missing and this is one of the very best albums in my collection. Definitely one of my desert island discs.

If I were stranded on a desert album, this is one of five albums I'd had to have with me to survive. More layers, more colors, more voices appear with each listen. For a good example of how refined this album is, compare "Big Thing" on this album to his original on Charming Snakes. Andy Summers had a tremendous group of musicians accompanying on this album, and he was at the peak of his immense powers here. If you want to hear Andy Summers in a more electronic form, closer to the Police sound, then start with an earlier album like The Golden Wire or World Gone Strange and work up to the jazzier sounds on Last Dance of Mr. X.

this is a lackluster album by summers. If you love golden wire, world gone strange and summer of the early stuff like collaborations with fripp and xyz you won't find that quality here.

Listen to Afro Blue and Strange Earth. They are what Andy is about--texture and style. His talents shine through on this CD, just like every other CD he has produced. If you get a chance, buy this as well as "Mysterious Barricades" if you can find it.

Being of one my favorite guitarists, it didn't take much to win me over on his solo progressive jazz albums. The Last Dance of Mr. X has a great mood and atmosphere to it, making it a thoroughly enjoyable listen any time. Although it doesn't compare with the work he did with Robert Fripp, it is still remarkable.