Keyboardist T Lavitz’s fusion credits include the Dixie Dregs as well as Jazz Is Dead, but he gets extra points for craftiness inwards putting together this collective. Lavitz seemed to realize that an electrical fusion outing past times this cast would endure deemed predictable, then exterior of the occasional electrical violin past times Jerry Goodman as well as bass past times John Patitucci, he went all acoustic. That chemical component of surprise, as well as musical chemical scientific discipline (Lavitz, Goodman as well as guitarist Steve Morse play together amongst the Dregs; Patitucci, drummer Dave Weckl as well as guitarist Frank Gambale amongst Chick Corea), brand for inspired playing. Goodman sounds ameliorate than ever, including during his 1970s stint amongst the Mahavishnu Orchestra. His unison lines amongst Lavitz’s piano, along amongst Weckl’s intricate drums as well as percussion, energize “No Time Flat.” The invitee appearances past times Goodman as well as Morse (on the Dregs-like “On Fire” as well as neo-classical “Portrait”) create highlights throughout.
Lavitz was never a major composer inwards either the Dregs or Jazz Is Dead (a highly intricate Grateful Dead embrace band), withal he wrote nine of the xi pieces here. The results are mixed, ranging from the off-timed, Goodman-enhanced “Like This” to his predictable “High Falutin’ Blues.” Gambale’s “Gambashwari” as well as “Teaser” seem designed, every bit practise most of his solos, to showcase to a greater extent than technique than soul. More problematic is the fact that Lavitz recorded his pianoforte inwards Massachusetts, Weckl recorded his drums inwards California, as well as some of Patitucci’s bass lines were captured inwards New York. It’s a organization of convenience that never industrial plant every bit good every bit recording collectively inwards the same room. Weckl is a wonder on the percussive showcase “A Little Mouse Music,” but elsewhere his free-rein tracks occasionally cross the overplaying line. For School of the Arts, Lavitz as well as fellowship move a passing grade, but don’t e'er demo their expected A-worthy work.
Cutting-edge compositions, beautiful sinuous melodies, as well as massive chops brand School of the Arts (SOTA) a genuinely rare confluence of influences as well as musical styles, pushing jazz as well as jazz-fusion into some other dimension.
With SOTA, Lavitz (with iv decades sense inwards the music biz - having played amongst such wide-ranging musicians every bit Widespread Panic, Bill Bruford, Billy Cobham, Nils Lofgren, Pat Benatar, Jefferson Starship, Mother's Finest, Dave Fiuczynski, Peter Himmelman, Dennis Chambers, Jeff Berlin, as well as Scott Henderson) is top dog, playing acoustic pianoforte (an musical instrument closed to his heart), as well as composing most of the textile for the band's debut.
Underscoring Lavitz's empathy as well as musical instincts, is the keyboardist's powerfulness to spearhead as well as concord together the SOTA project, despite each member's busy schedule: Morse is constantly touring amongst Deep Purple (occasionally amongst the Dregs); Jerry Goodman is an in-demand electrical violin trailblazer; Patitucci as well as Weckl crisscross the public amongst diverse artists as well as solo work; as well as also for Gambale, who of late finished a tour amongst Billy Cobham.
“The music is definitely interactive," Lavitz says. “When I receive got a solo, there's Frank Gambale answering me, similar something you'd hear on a gig."
Case inwards point: the Afro-Latin acoustic jazz melody “Gambashwari." Sinewy guitar as well as pianoforte chords/notes weave some 1 some other inwards syncopated patterns, stating main, contra as well as counterpoint melodies. It's breezy, non cheesy, jazz -- the sort that possesses sophistication without beingness elitist, tardily or unlistenable. It's utterly infectious jazz-fusion amongst aspirations toward sleeping accommodation or classical music, amongst rock's reckless abandon simmering merely nether the surface.
Other tracks include, “High Falutin' Blues" (an appropriate championship for a vocal that crosses the boundaries of country, blues, as well as jazz), “Like This" (listen every bit Weckl locks into Patitucci's lean bass business all the acre commenting on Goodman's as well as T's jazzy/bluegrass-esque soloing acrobatics), as well as “Teaser" (a Chick Corea-style acoustic rocker, consummate amongst trill-filled pianoforte performances, blanketed past times Weckl's silky flow of beats). “Dave Weckl set downwards some of the best drum tracks I've heard inwards a while," Lavitz says.
Despite the obvious -and some mightiness state inevitable--chops heard on this record, the high bird of musicianship never detracts from the overall menstruation of the compositions. In fact, the tape has a band of newfound freedom; of a songwriter allowed to spread his compositional wings, which recalls the artistic inventiveness as well as motivation that drove Lavitz to create his 1986 solo debut, Storytime - an album produced inwards the wake of a Dregs' breakup. “I am real excited almost this, because non alone did I move to write the mass of the music, but I produced, played as well as played alone acoustic," says Lavitz. “While it has elements from other recordings I've done, it seems, at to the lowest degree to me, to stand upwardly out every bit beingness real different."
Track listing:
01 Fairweather Green 5:29
02 No Time Flat 4:49
03 On Fire 4:54
04 Portrait 6:19
05 Like This 4:55
06 High Falutin' Blues 5:10
07 Gambashwari 5:01
08 Dinosaur Dance 6:09
09 Teaser 5:09
10 H5N1 Little Mouse Music 7:41
xi Maybe Next Time 3:58
Personnel:
• T Lavitz: Piano
• Dave Weckl: Drums & Percussion
• Frank Gambale: Acoustic Guitar
• Jerry Goodman: Violin (Tracks 2, 5, 8)
• John Patitucci: Acoustic & Electric Bass
• Steve Morse: Acoustic Guitar (Tracks 3, 4)
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