luvmusik
HOORAY !...ELECTRICITY !
And 1 last band for Happy New Year,
Jeff Lorber Fusion
2 songs, Tune 88 and Toad's Place, both from Water Sign album.
Quick anecdote here, at the time was briefly living in Oklahoma City, OK, and went to see a hugh jazz concert in Dallas, TX at a really big venue with a van load of friends. Many artists on billing (long, full day) with Crusaders as final headliner preceded by Jeff Lorber Fusion.
JLF was beyond sensational live, with this unknown , new to band 18 y.o. sax player that wasn't on the albums. The crowd was on its feet the entire last half of their show, we didn't know this guy at all, yet not only was he an incredible mesmerizer, but his chops were noteworthy, including the best & longest circular breathing technique on reeds I've heard ever (creation ala jazz icon Rahsaan Roland Kirk & stroke death later to boot, sadly, no wonder on the respiratory system).
The JLF sax player (hold your sigh), was Kenny Gorelick , known mostly far later as Kenny G. I later heard funk demos of him playing sax with a great female singer, while living in Philly, and those were his earliest records released afterwords. Truly gifted, misaligned by the critics and a mind blowing talent. Saw him live again early '90's & he put all critics to rest for me. Never have seen a note held longer on sax with progression too. Extreme technique, yet deeply soulful. Sorta feel bad how critics treated him (they got it so wrong), yet this guy is the real deal. He not only cut all the JLF tunes, but singly had thousands standing most of his show due to his soloing & sax work.
Back to the show...have it all recorded, booted from a fine Sony, tape in storage, entire day & night. The audience would not let JLF leave the stage, there were a couple of encores, crowd on its feet last full hour thru later show & multi-encores and it was heavenly. Finally they had to let the headliner Crusaders on stage.
Love both of these bands, engineering on those Crusaders lp's was a benchmark at that time. What happened was Crusaders hit stage & walked off after 3 songs, totally eclipsed by Jeff Lorber Fusion. They were psyched out mentally & musically & played so awfully bad, fathoms below their talent capabilities. We didn't care, although wanting the full Crusaders setlist, it just could not top JLF that nite. No one could headline that nite after what JLF did musically. Probably posted this here years ago, I dunno, forget. ALL on tape, Crusaders complained about monitors, couldn't hear, blah, blah,...pros just have to suck this up. Even if true, (was all sour grapes, blown off totally) tuff sound conditions happens all the time in venues, and artists just do their best , even under far more extreme conditions.
Recall Emerson Lake & Palmer dropping the power in a symphony hall 1 nite 2X, due to KE's low synth power requirements; the 2nd drop occurred on generators which dropped again ! Generators dropped the 2nd time as temps were about 10 degrees below zero F. Yet ELP re-started the composition exactly on the note they left off on, uncanny professionalism and deep grasp of their material; most bands recount & start at the top. A nite to remember for the 3 of us watching & listening.
So, here are 2 tunes for the New Year, 2019, may it bring us all together in Fusion & Love.
"Tune 88", classic.
and, Toad's Place.
Happy New Year 2019 !
Jeff Lorber Fusion
2 songs, Tune 88 and Toad's Place, both from Water Sign album.
Quick anecdote here, at the time was briefly living in Oklahoma City, OK, and went to see a hugh jazz concert in Dallas, TX at a really big venue with a van load of friends. Many artists on billing (long, full day) with Crusaders as final headliner preceded by Jeff Lorber Fusion.
JLF was beyond sensational live, with this unknown , new to band 18 y.o. sax player that wasn't on the albums. The crowd was on its feet the entire last half of their show, we didn't know this guy at all, yet not only was he an incredible mesmerizer, but his chops were noteworthy, including the best & longest circular breathing technique on reeds I've heard ever (creation ala jazz icon Rahsaan Roland Kirk & stroke death later to boot, sadly, no wonder on the respiratory system).
The JLF sax player (hold your sigh), was Kenny Gorelick , known mostly far later as Kenny G. I later heard funk demos of him playing sax with a great female singer, while living in Philly, and those were his earliest records released afterwords. Truly gifted, misaligned by the critics and a mind blowing talent. Saw him live again early '90's & he put all critics to rest for me. Never have seen a note held longer on sax with progression too. Extreme technique, yet deeply soulful. Sorta feel bad how critics treated him (they got it so wrong), yet this guy is the real deal. He not only cut all the JLF tunes, but singly had thousands standing most of his show due to his soloing & sax work.
Back to the show...have it all recorded, booted from a fine Sony, tape in storage, entire day & night. The audience would not let JLF leave the stage, there were a couple of encores, crowd on its feet last full hour thru later show & multi-encores and it was heavenly. Finally they had to let the headliner Crusaders on stage.
Love both of these bands, engineering on those Crusaders lp's was a benchmark at that time. What happened was Crusaders hit stage & walked off after 3 songs, totally eclipsed by Jeff Lorber Fusion. They were psyched out mentally & musically & played so awfully bad, fathoms below their talent capabilities. We didn't care, although wanting the full Crusaders setlist, it just could not top JLF that nite. No one could headline that nite after what JLF did musically. Probably posted this here years ago, I dunno, forget. ALL on tape, Crusaders complained about monitors, couldn't hear, blah, blah,...pros just have to suck this up. Even if true, (was all sour grapes, blown off totally) tuff sound conditions happens all the time in venues, and artists just do their best , even under far more extreme conditions.
Recall Emerson Lake & Palmer dropping the power in a symphony hall 1 nite 2X, due to KE's low synth power requirements; the 2nd drop occurred on generators which dropped again ! Generators dropped the 2nd time as temps were about 10 degrees below zero F. Yet ELP re-started the composition exactly on the note they left off on, uncanny professionalism and deep grasp of their material; most bands recount & start at the top. A nite to remember for the 3 of us watching & listening.
So, here are 2 tunes for the New Year, 2019, may it bring us all together in Fusion & Love.
"Tune 88", classic.
and, Toad's Place.
Happy New Year 2019 !
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