7 in One Dennis Warren's Full Metal Revolutionary Jazz Ensemble By Mark Corroto
Let me take you out there to a place where energy meets sound. Where the electric Miles treads. Where freedom means a discipline to music, like a Sun Ra meltdo [+]7 in One Dennis Warren's Full Metal Revolutionary Jazz Ensemble By Mark Corroto
Let me take you out there to a place where energy meets sound. Where the electric Miles treads. Where freedom means a discipline to music, like a Sun Ra meltdown. Where the groove has no titles and John Coltrane can play a solo for two hours and you remain riveted in your seat. Dennis Warren lives here. His Full Metal Revolutionary Jazz Ensemble walks the land where Ornette Coleman' electric Prime Time and Ronald Shannon Jackson's band walked. His latest self-released recording is a nine track sampling of that energy with their longest track clocking in at just short of eleven minutes. It's a pity, this release should have been nine discs of extended jams. Each track aches to be stretched out and grooved upon. Guess you will just have to catch FMRJE live.
*************************************************************************** The Green Mountain Jazz Messenger Recordings of Note September/October 1999 7 in One By John Barrett, Jr.
When I hear this I don't think of metal - this is sand, moving fast and always receptive to the winds of change. The rhythm keeps popping, slurring guitars over gathering drums. "Jazz Iron" takes the pulse and goes hot: Raphe Malik reaching high in spiraling notes. The left guitar starts a wah-wah, and his partner builds the thought: Hendrix one moment, Clapton the next. Malik returns softer, and here he blends; one more flavor in a thick tangy stew. It goes its own way, and yet you feel structure.
"Metal Petals" starts in Chico Hamiltion country: Earl Lawrence's flute, twisting exotic over the mist of cymbals. Some wah-wah splashes through, a spot of marimba, and Malik cries in the distance. The warmth of the jungle - and then it goes wild. Nature has wakened and Lawrence takes wing, a bird above the dense foliage. "First Hit" has the turbulence of "Iron," with Malik creeping softly. The power is Warren's drumming, and slippery twangs that dot the air. Lawrence moves slowly with calm in the midst of hysteria. Not as strong as "Iron," but nice, and I can't forget the flute!
It's a lighter sound on "Rhumba X:" Lawrence dancing smooth over big drums. It goes kinetic, without the density of b
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