Vertu is undeniably an ambitious project, surely to a greater extent than together with so than most contemporary fusion projects. At the marrow of the collective are artist/stanley-clarke-mn0000745316">Stanley Clarke together with artist/lenny-white-mn0000246487">Lenny White, the renowned beat department of artist/return-to-forever-mn0000463527">Return to Forever; they're augmented past times violinist Karn Briggs, keyboardist artist/rachel-z-mn0000380614">Rachel Z, together with old artist/poison-mn0000355616">Poison guitarist artist/richie-kotzen-mn0000852081">Richie Kotzen, of all people. It's a wildly eclectic grouping of musicians, together with they appropriately tackle all sorts of music, from straight-ahead fusion together with post-bop to worldbeat together with classical-tinged rock. Thanks to the fine musicianship of all involved, it's non nearly the mess that it could select been, but it's hardly an unqualified success, either. The primary occupation is the weird blend of songs together with compositions. Vertu is basically divided betwixt songs (only a handful of which characteristic Kotzen's strained bluesy vocals), which select 1 unproblematic melody, together with flowing, multi-layered, multi-sectioned compositions. In each case, they're graced past times some genuinely extraordinary playing (laugh you lot may, but Kotzen is a gifted guitarist together with it's a pleasance to involve heed him stretch out, instead of existence confined to pop-metal), but the songs oftentimes are built around lame themes that experience similar excuses for improvisations; fifty-fifty worse, those themes are oftentimes delivered alongside the musical note together with grace of a boob tube commercial. Vertu is much meliorate alongside "Topasio Es Puro Corazon" together with "Danse of the Harlequin" -- opportunities to ready fascinating contrasts inwards sound, both through themes together with improvisations. These pieces, along alongside the plentiful solo sections inwards the flawed songs, select some slap-up interplay that volition surely last of involvement to fans of all the involved musicians. And if they're longtime fans of whatever of the members (especially Clarke, White, together with artist/return-to-forever-mn0000463527">Return to Forever), they'll realize that creative risks are oftentimes successful together with flawed inwards equal measure, together with so they won't last discouraged past times the awkward moments on Vertu.
VERTU is a fusion "superband" made solely for 1 record. Stanley Clarke (basses), Lenny White (drums) nonetheless are the best beat department of all times. Rachel Z (keyboards) is slap-up (waiting to move alongside Peter GABRIEL). Richie Kotzen isn't solely a difficult guitar player, simply brain together with you'll understand. Karen Briggs (violin) is equally adept equally Jean-Luc Ponty or John Goodman themselves.
"We're trying to select virtuosic playing dorsum to the forefront inwards music," says drummer Lenny White close his novel ring Vertú, a musical collective that features bassist Stanley Clarke, keyboardist Rachel Z, violinist Karen Briggs, together with guitarist Richie Kotzen. "I haven't had an chance to play similar this inwards a long fourth dimension - where everybody is actually stretching out on their instruments together with playing upward to their total potential." White is talking close playing fusion again, music that begged its participants to larn for broke together with demo the audience everything they had inwards them. But volition today's jazz audience last downward alongside the "F" word? White thinks so. "I'm convinced that at that topographic point is a whole novel audience out at that topographic point that volition response enthusiastically to this music, simply equally people did xxx years ago."
Tracklist:
01. V-Wave (5:09)
02. On Top Of The Rain (7:42)
03. Anoche (5:30)
04. The Call (7:23)
05. Topasio Es Puro Corazon, Part One (4:47)
06. Topsaio, Part Two (5:02)
07. Danse Of The Harlequin (6:38)
08. Start It Again (5:38)
09. Marakesh (4:12)
10. Toys (7:55)
Personnel:
Richie Kotzen (vocals, guitar)
Karen Briggs (violin)
Rachel Z (keyboards)
Stanley Clarke (bass)
Lenny White (drums).
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