51

Here is one of Sébastien Gramond's instrumental rock/jazz albums. Having listened to dozens of albums by this man by now, I have found that some of my most enjoyed work he has done has been his instrumental progressive rock, with jazz leanings. This makes '51' a very promising prospect, and while it has some moments that are excellent, the moments of glory do not last long. That being said, '51' generally maintains a fair level of enjoyment throughout.

The cornerstone of this album is 'The Long Road To Nowhere', a four part suite that begins sounding like a traditional progressive rock epic (starting slow, gradually building) but it then launches into what sounds like an improvised jam for the rest of it, occasionally falling back on motifs to give the composition some cohesion. While certainly the highlight of this album, it does feel as if it could have been improved upon a bit, by adding some good melodies here and there to intersperse the extended guitar solos from Gramond. The real highlight here is where Gramond speeds up the composition to create a quirky arrangement, sounding alot like the better moments of Zappa.

For the rest of the album, Gramond jumps between jazz rock and free jazz, doing both well, but it does feel at points as if (like the epic) the music could have done with some more memorable moments such as melodies and dynamic with tempo. The album did not quite fulfill the expectations I had for it when first listening to the opening of 'The Long Road To Nowhere', but it stands as an enjoyable piece of jazz rock for someone looking for a leisurely instrumental voyage.