Seemingly a hardcore mainstreamer at heart—though i amongst no shortage of experimental élan, proven over a serial of 10 albums from 1967's El Hombre (Prestige) to 1976's wonderful duo amongst pianist Gil Goldstein, We'll Be Together Again (Muse, 1976)—guitarist Pat Martino came relatively belatedly to the jazz-rock fusion game. His start album to genuinely plug in, his 1976 Warner Bros. debut, Starbright, was an eclectic matter that mixed synth as well as electrical piano-laden interpretations of master music as well as a yoke of wonderful Wayne Shorter covers ("Fall" as well as "Nefertiti"), amongst Martino moving comfortably from acoustic guitar to, for the start time, a to a greater extent than overdriven electrical tone that nonetheless retained the inherent darkness of the audio amongst which he'd acquire known.
But it was amongst today's Rediscovery, 1977's Joyous Lake, that the increasingly well-known as well as already influential guitarist from Philadelphia took the large dive into electrical waters, amongst a fissure ring of then-largely unknowns—keyboardist Delmar Brown, who would proceed to function amongst everyone from Bob Moses as well as Miles Davis to Sting, electrical bassist Mark Leonard, as well as a drummer whose muscular as well as effervescent fashion would come across him proceed to function amongst everyone from Stanley Jordan as well as David Fiuczynski to Robin Eubanks as well as The Manhattan Transfer: Kenwood Dennard.
From the opening "Line Games"—one of iii Martino originals that are augmented past times ii from Brown (the atmospherically charged "Pyramidal Visions" as well as at to the lowest degree initially to a greater extent than relaxed "Mardi Gras") as well as i from Dennard (the fast funk of the Herbie Hancock-informed "M'Wandishi")—the entire grouping charges out of the gate. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 fiery melody amongst a characteristically knotty theme, it demonstrates that Martino may convey plugged inwards amongst a to a greater extent than overdriven tone, but his bop-drenched lines nonetheless beak of his mainstream background...a differentiator from most fusion of the fourth dimension inwards that it genuinely never loses site of where it came from.
"Song Bird" is much longer (twice the length of "Line Games") and, amongst its stop/start elliptical theme, something that dates back, conceptually, to before Martino tunes similar "The Great Stream," from Live! (Muse, 1974); but, amongst Brown, Leonard as well as Dennard's powerful support, it nonetheless possesses the burn as well as unloose energy of fusion, fifty-fifty if Martino's tone as well as playing actually hasn't changed much...only the context has. Similarly, the aptly monikered championship rails that closes the disc, amongst Brown doubling Martino's clean-toned theme, is something that could easily live on transferred into a to a greater extent than acoustic setting, amongst its Latin tinge as well as propulsive rhythm.
Still, Martino's experiment amongst an early on guitar synthesizer on "M'Wandishi" suggests he was opened upward to atypical textures, fifty-fifty equally he ran rapid eighth-note lines over Leonard as well as Dennard's muscular groundwork.
Sadly, Joyous Lake was given exclusively a lukewarm reception and, after a encephalon aneurysm that left the guitarist amongst amnesia thus consummate that he had to literally relearn his musical instrument i time again through listening to his existing trunk of work, Martino's provide to surgical operation as well as recording inwards the belatedly 1980s was also largely his return to the to a greater extent than mainstream vibe of his pre-Starbright recordings. Still, the guitarist after saw tally to reunite the grouping (calling it Joyous Lake) for i record: 1998's Stone Blue (Blue Note), adding saxophonist Eric Alexander to the mix as well as substituting James Genus for Mark Leonard.
But for those who bask their fusion amongst a stronger necktie to the tradition, fifty-fifty equally its grooves as well as colors are irrefutably electrical as well as inwards their energy, electrified, Joyous Lake remains an undervalued jewel inwards Martino's discography, as well as i that absolutely merits Rediscovery.
Track listing
All compositions past times Pat Martino except equally indicated
"Line Games" - 3:55
"Pyramidal Vision" (Delmar Brown) - 7:42
"Mardi Gras" (Brown) - 8:56
"M'Wandishi" (Kenwood Dennard) - 5:29
"Song Bird" - 7:55
"Joyous Lake" - 7:33
Personnel
Pat Martino - guitar, EML 101 synthesizer, percussion
Delmar Brown - electrical piano, Oberheim polyphonic, EML 500
Mark Leonard - electrical bass
Kenwood Dennard - drums, percussion
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