STANLEY CLARKE - Electric & Acoustic Bass, Guitar, Piano, Arranger, Keyboards, Vocals, Fuzz Guitar
JAN HAMMER - Organ, Piano, Keyboards, Electric Piano, Moog Synthesizer
BILL CONNORS - Acoustic & Electric Guitar
TONY WILLIAMS - Drums
AIRTO MOREIRA - Percussion
JON FADDIS - Trumpet, Brass
LEW SOLOFF - Trumpet, Brass
DAVID TAYLOR - Trombone, Brass
GARNETT BROWN - Horn, Brass
JAMES BUFFINGTON - Horn, Brass
DAVID NADIEN - Strings, String Section
HARRY CYKMAN - Strings, String Section
PAUL GERSHMAN - Strings, String Section
EMANUEL GREEN - Strings
HARRY LOOKOFSKY - Strings
HAROLD KOHON - Strings, String Section
BEVERLY LAURIDSEN - Strings, String Section
JESSE LEVY - Strings, String Section
CHARLES MCCRACKEN - Strings
CAROL BUCK - Strings, String Section
PETER GORDON - Horn, Brass
KEN SCOTT - Engineer, Assopciated Producer
DAVE WHITMAN - Assistant Engineer
BOB DEFRIN - Art Direction
1980 CD Epic EK-36973
1980 CS Epic PET-36973
1980 CD Columbia 36973
1990 CD Columbia 36973
Two-fifths of the original Mahavishnu Orchestra and one-fourth of
Return to Forever have their say on these releases from Nat Weiss's new
Nemperor label, and it sounds as if the first real alternative to
Columbia's jazz/rock juggernaut may be shaping up. Goodman and Hammer
have chosen to work as a duo, achieving an orchestral sound with
multiple overdubs, while Clarke has gathered an unusually distinguished
and compatible crew of sidemen. The resulting albums differ from each
other, but both albums are different enough from those of Columbia
artists like Weather Report, Herbie Hancock and the current Mahavishnu
Orchestra to suggest at least a minitrend.
"Country & Eastern music" is Jan Hammer's half-in-jest name for
whatever it is that happens when he combines his keyboards and drums
with Goodman's stringed instruments. By playing and overdubbing
together in the studio the two musicians manage to avoid the
artificial, static qualities of Mike Oldfield's work, and some of their
textures and effects transcend the country and the Eastern, achieving
the uniquely sublime. All the wrinkles aren't out of the idea yet. The
occasional vocals, well intentioned though they may be, are a thin,
piping, amateurish shock after the technologically beefed up
instrumental sound of the duo. At least one attempt at heavy
metal—"Full Moon Boogie" — sounds condescending rather than
sincerely insubstantial. There are hulking, polymetric excursions that
will inevitably draw accusations of cashing in on the old Mahavishnu
sound. But there are also some devastatingly effective sonic
landscapes, and as a whole the album is a surprisingly musical use of
the easy-to-abuse multiple overdubbing technique.
Stanley Clarke serves notice that Chick Corea is not Return to
Forever's only exceptional composer/instrumentalist. The ads for the
album, which boast that side two is worth its price and side one is a
bonus, are for once entirely accurate. The first side is in fact fairly
routine, thunder-and-lightning variety jazz-rock, funkier and less
fancy than the now classic Mahavishnu style but considerably harder
edged than RTF. The second side begins with Michael Gibbs's "Spanish
Phases for Strings and Bass," a slight, atmospheric bit of string
writing which frames a phenomenal (and phenomenally well-recorded)
stringbass solo by Clarke, who was playing similar music with Pharaoh
Sanders and Gato Barbieri at age 19. The rest of the side, "Life
Suite," has to cook with Clarke percussionist Airto and drummer Tony
Williams (who started this post-Miles jazz-rock business with his
Lifetime group featuring McLaughlin on guitar) pushing it. Jan Hammer
handles the keyboards and Bill Connors, former RTF guitarist,
contributes some assured solo work and biting rhythm. In all, Clarke
has assembled a studio group that would give any band working a run for
its money. A second LP with the same personnel is definitely in order.
(RS 183)
BOB PALMER - Rolling Stone Posted: Mar, 27 1975
Definitive early-period funk/fusion. Clarke's finger-pop bass is up front.
No one ever accused Return to Forever of playing too few notes, and
bass wonder Stanley Clarke commits a few similar sins of excess on his
first solo album (see "Life Suite, Parts 1-4"). But, hey, this was
1975, and there's no denying Clarke's genius for sublime grooves and
fancy fretwork. As funky as Larry Graham and more fun than Jaco
Pastorius, he moves agilely between the convoluted pleasures of "Lopsy
Lu" and the more highbrow charms of "Spanish Phases for String and
Bass." The album is one of the best showcases for Clarke's mastery of
both double bass and electric.