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Now Is the Time
Now Is the Time in Bloomington, MN
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Jeff Lorber
made a very honest statement when, in 1998, he told the Houston Chronicle that the mid-'80s found him featuring R&B vocalists so prominently that he had become, in effect, "a sideman on my own records."
Lorber
wasn't saying that he would never feature vocalists again, but he obviously realized that his own musicianship and his own personality needed to take center stage instead of being merely a side dish -- and thankfully,
the jazz instrumentalist made an exciting comeback in the '90s and continued to generate excitement in the 21st century. 2010's
Now Is the Time
, in fact, is credited to the
Jeff Lorber Fusion
-- which is appropriate because parts of this album find him revisiting fusion and crossover jazz pieces he originally recorded in the late '70s and early '80s.
isn't totally instrumental; four of the 11 tracks feature singer
Irene B
(
"Water Sign,"
"Rain Dance/Wanna Fly,"
"Sugar Free,"
and
"Curtains/Before We Go"
), and she favors an enjoyably jazzy R&B vocal style along the lines of
Erykah Badu
N'Dea Davenport
. So what is the difference between the way
features
Irene
on
and the way he featured, for example,
Karyn White
Michael Jeffries
on 1986's
Private Passion
? It's a matter of presentation.
is clearly a guest vocalist on a mostly instrumental album that is jazz-oriented even though it isn't jazz-exclusive, and
(who produced this 47-minute CD with
Bobby Colomby
Yellowjackets
bassist
Jimmy Haslip
) never sounds like a sideman on his own album.
is in the driver's seat; he has plenty of room to stretch out as a keyboardist, and there is also plenty of solo space for alto/soprano saxophonist
Eric Marienthal
.
is hardly the work of a jazz purist or a bop snob, but it certainly has a jazz improviser's mentality, and
sees to it that his 2010 versions of
gems like
"Black Ice"
"Chinese Medicinal Herbs"
are not carbon copies of the original versions. That sprit of improvisation prevails not only on the
-era material he revisits, but also, on an appealing arrangement of
Wayne Shorter'
s
Weather Report
-associated
"Mysterious Traveler."
is a fine album that will easily appeal to those who appreciate the spontaneity of early efforts like
Water Sign
Soft Space
. ~ Alex Henderson
made a very honest statement when, in 1998, he told the Houston Chronicle that the mid-'80s found him featuring R&B vocalists so prominently that he had become, in effect, "a sideman on my own records."
Lorber
wasn't saying that he would never feature vocalists again, but he obviously realized that his own musicianship and his own personality needed to take center stage instead of being merely a side dish -- and thankfully,
the jazz instrumentalist made an exciting comeback in the '90s and continued to generate excitement in the 21st century. 2010's
Now Is the Time
, in fact, is credited to the
Jeff Lorber Fusion
-- which is appropriate because parts of this album find him revisiting fusion and crossover jazz pieces he originally recorded in the late '70s and early '80s.
isn't totally instrumental; four of the 11 tracks feature singer
Irene B
(
"Water Sign,"
"Rain Dance/Wanna Fly,"
"Sugar Free,"
and
"Curtains/Before We Go"
), and she favors an enjoyably jazzy R&B vocal style along the lines of
Erykah Badu
N'Dea Davenport
. So what is the difference between the way
features
Irene
on
and the way he featured, for example,
Karyn White
Michael Jeffries
on 1986's
Private Passion
? It's a matter of presentation.
is clearly a guest vocalist on a mostly instrumental album that is jazz-oriented even though it isn't jazz-exclusive, and
(who produced this 47-minute CD with
Bobby Colomby
Yellowjackets
bassist
Jimmy Haslip
) never sounds like a sideman on his own album.
is in the driver's seat; he has plenty of room to stretch out as a keyboardist, and there is also plenty of solo space for alto/soprano saxophonist
Eric Marienthal
.
is hardly the work of a jazz purist or a bop snob, but it certainly has a jazz improviser's mentality, and
sees to it that his 2010 versions of
gems like
"Black Ice"
"Chinese Medicinal Herbs"
are not carbon copies of the original versions. That sprit of improvisation prevails not only on the
-era material he revisits, but also, on an appealing arrangement of
Wayne Shorter'
s
Weather Report
-associated
"Mysterious Traveler."
is a fine album that will easily appeal to those who appreciate the spontaneity of early efforts like
Water Sign
Soft Space
. ~ Alex Henderson
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