Customer Reviews

Time in Place

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

 

 

This release has really grown on me...

This album really has the complete package; nice tunes and great soloing. Even though some of this gets into the sphere of smooth jazz, it's all really well done.

Sterns soloing is great throughout (no surprise), and I especially like his performance on the title track. I might even like the overall production here (working with Steve Khan) better than on Upside/Downside... very nice.

As a bonus, Peter Erskine is on drums (his playing is always so tasteful.) No Notice features guest Don Grolnick on organ, and check out the blowing Bob Berg does on this one!

Shawn

A guitar-playing buddy of mine turned me on to Mike Stern in high school (early-mid eighties) by taking me down to the 55 Bar in Greenwich Village to hear/see him jam. For awhile, we'd go down there at least once every couple of weeks to see him. He played a three-piece band, stuffed into the corner of this "Dive" that probably held around 50 people (packed!). This was my first Stern album, and I've been hooked ever since. If you like that jazzy fusion sound with a little rock edge, this guy is for you. Mike Stern is one of the most under-rated, overlooked artist around. Among the contemporary players of this style, I believe he has no equal.

I've been listening to Stern since the "We Want Miles" album and tour in the Eighties - I saw him at the Hammersmith Odeon in London back then and I've seen him at least a dozen times since in New York, London, and Riverside. Not that his playing is anything less than superb on the Miles album referred to above, but rather than kick back he's continued to learn from others and to improve his compositions and improvisation all the time.

This particular album is now in the "all time greats" category as far as I'm concerned - "Gossip" is a full-blown classic for jazz-rockers everywhere. If your list of great guitarists doesn't include Stern, you haven't been paying as much attention as you should have.

Jazz/Rock guitarist Mike Stern shows off his chops on this collection of original instrumental compositions from 1988. All of these pieces could be considered pretty straight jazz, but with Stern's affection for chorusing and mild distortion and some other `80's sounds, the results range from bop to something suspiciously akin to the rock of Joe Satriani. Being a fan of high-energy music, my favorite tracks are those that employ harder, faster beats, like the bopping opening "Gossip" (which features Michael Brecker on tenor sax) the groovin' "No Notice" (plenty of guitar pyrotechnics on this one, plus a great sax solo from Bob Berg) "After All" (Stern and Berg really let their instruments scream on this one) and the standout "Chromozone" (featuring a harder beat and the strongest melody on this release). Stern tries to channel Satriani in the slower title track and "Four Shades", but can't match Joe's intensity. "Before You Go" is a still slower, very introspective piece in which Stern plays dual lines with the Berg's sax and loses in the process. I'm not familiar with Stern's oeuvre, so I don't know how "Time in Place" compares to his other work. From an outsider's viewpoint, there's plenty of energy and technique here, but the songwriting is inauspicious at best, so I'd like to give this three and half stars. But I'm definitely anxious to hear more from this obviously talented musician.

The late 80's were a great time for Jazz and this is one of my favorites from Stern. If you have not heard this one it is worth seeking out. Great tunes and flat out wailing!

Each tune on this album is unique and engaging. The complexity of the ideas and composition is simply astounding. Most of the albums I own, I can listen to once or twice and become bored, a select few I can listen to three times...this album I can listen to endlessly and never become bored. It is truely the greatest album I own.

I'm not a musician and I can understand this album rocks. Everybody is just great at every postion they're in. The last song is my favorite; it has a funky bass line and a solo which is just mind blowing. Everytime I listen to it, I feel a musicians' pain when they go "OOOHHHH NOOOOOO!" It's a really cool funky blues album for those who like this stuff.