Customer Reviews

Stanley Clarke Band

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I grew up on fusion in the 70's. It was new then and I couldn't get enough of it. I love jazz as a whole but fusion is what holds my heart. I grew up on "Journey to Love", "School Days", "Rocks, Pebbles and Sand" and RTF. I am a music fiend who orders music weekly and frankly there's no more room in the house so I'm trying to curb my addiction. I was impressed with 07's "Toys of Men" but this cd brings it up a notch; this is Stanely's tribute to fusion and his role in it. It is a gift to those of us who knew fusion and an update to the idiom that invites the next generation in. Highlights are an updated Corea era "No Mystery" (which is what drew me to the CD), what would best be called a funky sequel: "I'll Play For You Too", a beautiful ballad "Here's why Tears Dry" and a great tribute simply titled "Sonny Rollins". My Impression is that Stanley has looked back on his career and decided to share with his followers what he has loved playing most by reinventing it for this cd. The cd is solid and flows; the supporting band is excellent. I found room for it in my house; you should too!

As a bass player myself, Stanley Clarke is a mythic figure. I still remember the first time I heard the School Days album, and then went back to hear his earlier recordings. I've listened loyally even during the years when I felt he almost lost his way (remember "Time Exposure?"). Realistically, though, no artist hits it out of the ballpark every time at bat. And in the past several years, Stanley has rewarded my patience with some towering performances. "The Toys of Men" was, in my opinion, a masterpiece, as was the S.M.V. "Thunder" album. So, I was eagerly waiting to see if his latest offering would hold to the same high level of quality. If anything, he has surpassed it.

"The Stanley Clarke Band" is a virtuosic smorgasbord of old-school fusion, classical jazz, modern-day funk and introspective collaborations. Stanley's playing is fresh and inventive, and not as self-referential as previous outings.

This is a spectacular recording showing a legendary master at the absolute top of his game. Highly recommended!

The other night I had the great pleasure to see and meet Stanley, Hiromi, Ronald Bruner Jr. and Ruslan Sirota at the Toronto Jazz Festival where they had played an astounding set of furious hard-fusion, interspersed here and there with the gentle beauty of songs from "Jazz In The Garden". There did not appear to be one person in the crowd who wasn't totally blown away!

Contrary to what I've always done in the past, I saw the band "first" before hearing the album, which I had bought only a couple of hours prior to the show. Interestingly when Rusland Sirota signed the CD cover/sleeve, he proclaimed, "So, this is what it looks like!"- he hadn't even seen it yet!

Whilst listening to it the next day, the first thing that occurred to me is that those thirty-second samples on Amazon are only the tip of the iceberg- there's much much, more going on in these songs than those samples will even begin to hint at!

One of the first things you notice, is Stanley's absolutely pristine bass sound- the strings sounding so bright and clear, yet beautifully carrying the bottom end, sounding as though he had put on a brand new set of strings for each song! Stanley and Lenny White do a great job at the production helm beginning with Ruslan Sirota's original, "Soldier", a very cool piece that occasionally shifts into high gear with one of the most interesting transitions I've heard in a long time: a "Police"-type uptempo groove with slightly distorted, yet not overbearing guitar which creates a melancholy mood that's just gorgeous, nicely setting the stage for all of the unique things about to on throughout this great album.

Next, in "Fulani", more of those shimmering strings with someone providing a "chut, chut chut-chut chut" vocal percussive sound for a slow cool Fender Rhodes-type spacey piece with those great guitar harmonies similar to what you'd hear on one of Lenny White's albums from the late '70s. "Here's Why Tears Dry" is also another haunting, slower tempo song with an Alan Holdsworth-style guitar solo, which is also where brilliant new up-and-coming drummer, Ronald Bruner Jr., get's to show us a bit of his skills- with more to come!

"I Wanna Play For You Too", absolutely brilliantly captures late '70s/early '80s funk, even production-wise, but with a more modern technique bringing clearer drums and bass up into the mix. Stanley's intro to "Bass Folk Song No. 10" is the prettiest bass thing I've heard since Jaco Pastorious' "Portrait of Tracy", which I'm sure many bass players will want to learn for it's touching melody.

One of my favourite pieces is the ominous and unique "How Is The Weather Up There" replete with various, sometimes eerie, telephone vocal samples reminding us of what's happening to the planet. After awhile it begins to chug along nicely with a slow groove somewhat like Jeff Beck's, "The Pump", from "There and Back". In "Larry.....(the title's too long to write!), Ronald Bruner is starting to really open up, as is Hiromi, both finally going into high-gear (Hiromi more like her solo albums). Of course Stanley is right up there with them, along with Ruslan Sirota demonstrating that he's no slouch! As with his performance in concert, he still sounds superb even next to the astounding Hiromi! Who'd a thought?!

Speaking of Hiromi, it's her piece "Labyrinth" that's next, in the classic Hiromi tradition, but with powerful Stanley Clarke strumming and tone.

Yet another very interesting and joyous piece comes next, "Sonny Rollins" which, after a brief double bass solo brings us a beautiful, very high-pitched female vocal melody in sync with a cool brass line, settling nicely into an almost Ghanaian "Highlife" groove(!), interspersed with gorgeous Nelson Riddle-type shimmering strings that might just give you goose bumps! This has got to be one of the most joyous modern jazz pieces since Weather Report's, "Birdland". If Joe Zawinul can hear this one, I'm sure he's smiling!

To close this great album we have "Bass Folk Song No. 6" (Mo Anam Cara), a lovely haunting piece to end off at least a good hour's worth of great music!

The Stanley Clarke Band CD is a fusion masterpiece. A throw back album in some ways with songs like "I Wanna Play For You Too" and "No Mystery", because of the revisitation of that wonderful era in music. Great fusion pieces like the updated "No Mystery" and a revamped spin on a classic Return to Forever song (After the Cosmic Rain) with "How is the Weather Up There?" Two great tribute songs the first being "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited A Lifetime For The Return Of Vishnu's Report", dedicated to Joe Zawinul of Weather Report and many other fusion groups that exploded onto the fusion scene in the 1970's. The second song being "Sonny Rollins" a nice swinging bebop groove. PS check out Stanley playing the Charles Mingus Bass. One word (SMOOTH). Other choice cuts are the moving piece "Soldier" the energetic, emotional and beautiful piece "Labyrinth" written by Hiromi, the beautiful "Bass Folk Song No.6" and the more funky and groovy "Bass Folk Song No 10." This album has a collection of wonderful pieces both from the funk genre, the fusion genre and the classic jazz genre that I think Stanley Clarke fans from all across the world will love and enjoy this CD.

Stanley Clarke's creativity on, and mastery of the bass is still as fresh as it was the day I first heard him back in 1976 as a budding bassist in my high school jazz band. Last year's Stanley Clarke Trio's "Jazz in the Garden" and this year's release serve as so much more than a walk down memory lane. They showcase one of music's most original, iconic musicians at his best. I highly recommend both CDs to fans of Jazz, Fusion, and of course, fans of excellent bass playing.

On his previous album Toys of Men Stanley Clarke was hard at work breaking in a new band while returning to more of a jazz fusion framework. This could've very easily ammounted up to an elder musical icon trying to recapture his youth. Luckily on the follow up there was absolutely no chance of that happening. One of the main reasons for that has simply to do with the fact that Stanley,co-producer Lenny White and the band are all into the music with the simple idea of doing what Stanley does best and nothing more. Now there's certainly no lack of inspiration here musically it's just not presented in a labored way. And that's interesting because this is where Stanley is looking most towards re-embracing the styles he utilized when he began his solo career in the mid 70's. So there's a lot of rock,a lot of jazz,a lot of fusion and a healthy helping of funk. But this is one of those albums that you'd call a patishe;everything is seperate out. "Soldier" and "Fulani" take care of the rock end of things very well,the former song actually breaking out into a very layored and almost retro grunge style bass/guitar solo during the bridges and the latter having a lot more to do with mood as the approch is a bit more subtle. The vocorder heavy "I Wanna Play For You Too",the spoken word sampling "How Is The Weather Up There" and "Bass Folk Song No#2" cover the funk end of the spectrum very well and the latter two songs actually breaking out into interludes of another musical area this album covers:fusion. Stanley even goes as far as reprising his RTF era classic "No Mystery" here-you can tell it's the same song but the modern production values slicken the groove up enough in all the right places. The seventh cut,which has such a long title I really don't feel like including it in this review is important because it implies references to Mahavisnu Orchestra and Weather Report in the title and with it's adventurous drum turns,rhythmic complexity and solos there's no question that it comes from that area as well. "Labyrinth" and "Sonny Rollins",one of the strongest tunes on the album both showcase a swinging jazz type of sound and,in the case of the latter song does capture the flavor of the musician it's paying tribute to. This album has performed very well critically so far and Clarke himself apparently thinks very highly of it and there's much reason to. It's one of his strongest recent albums both instrumentally and compositionally and showcases all of the musical sides of Clarke very very well.

Some of this music harkens back to the jazz-fusion / acid rock days of the 1970's. Stnaley Clarke has assembled a first rate cast of supporting and leading musicians including pianist Hiromi. Really good.

As a hack bass player myself, really enjoy listening to the man who is a master. I have been listening to Stanley since the early 70's, his 'Brown Album" was played over and over again at my house. His RTF work was second to none. He is the bass player that has influenced me more than any other.

I've been following Stanley Clarke since the mid 70's, School Days being one of my all-time favorite albums. I purchased this CD a few weeks before seeing his band in NYC at the Blue Note and think it's his best work to date. The song "Sonny Rollins" is one of the best jazz/fusion songs of all time. Stanley and his band have such power, polish & control in the studio. If you have the chance, see them in person, when they aren't so restrained. If you like jazz at all, I think you'll find this one of your favorite albums!

It has some good tunes, but it tries to cover too wide an audience - a couple of tunes are pretty poppy and not so great to run into after listening for a while. One has a particularly repetitive vocal that seems a little much. I was expecting more, but it's still O.K.