ARC OF THE TESTIMONY

Imagine Tony Williams, Bill Laswell, Pharoah Sanders, and Buckethead walk into a bar?

You don't have to.

Apologies to Byard Lancaster, Graham Haynes, and Nicky Skopelitis. You guys apparently also walked into the same bar at the same time and the end result is one intense album, but I'm not familiar you guys.

This is oh my God intense instrumental music. Also Tony William's last album before he died.

Ironically I was browsing around for Buckethead stuff and ran into this, Arcana, which also happened to be the name of the company I was working for at the time.

Spacey jazz rock with a little metal seasoning. So synthymetaljazzrockfusion? Not well known but well worth getting to know.

Pharoah Sanders, Bill Laswell, Tony Williams, Buckethead, Nicky Skopelitis and Graham Haynes add up USA's Jazz/Fusion band , ARCANA. (There are other bands that go by the same name.)

But not any band can claim such an all-star cast under their name-title. Let me start with long time sax legend Pharoah Sanders. To think that this guy more than once played alongside the great John Coltrane, well, talks a bit about his level of performance. (He also played alongside composer and piano player Alice Coltrane, John's wife). Pharoah Sanders brought the "esoteric" performance element, to both Coltrane's music, as he does in his appearances in this 1997, ARCANA "Arc of Testimony" album.

Bill Laswell, well as I mentioned somewhere, is a freaking musical genius. But what I didn't emphasize then, but do now, is that he is also a hell of a bass player, as the skilled composer, multi-instrumentalist he is. Tony Williams (who died during this recording), well, anyone aquainted with this sub-genre knows his fondness for "grandeure". Also familiar to proggers guitarist Buckethead, which spiraling and haunting licks enhance the greatest peaks this record ascends. And everybody relying on Nicky Skopelitis guitar riffs. Graham Haynes contributes with his cornet on 2 tracks. Well! This is ARCANA.

How they sound? Like blending "old school" modern Jazz with Bill Laswell's intricate music figures and ever expansive "ambiental" structures. Moving towards stilistic perfection, but within a "chaotic" environment. The "esoteric" Pharoah Sanders leaving his heart in each of his interventions, as always! But each musician takes turns in the development of each track, so creativity runs wild, but never out of place, in the hands of these musicians' extraordinary and masterful performance skills!

****4.5 "Jazz/Fusion taken on a wild ride" PA stars.

For the brave at heart Prog/Jazz fans!

ARCANA was the project of American Bill Laswell, a man who is on literally hundreds of albums from all over the world. He has his own studio in New Jersey, and is a legend in the avant world of music. He formed this band in 1995 as a trio with the idea of playing Free jazz. On their 1996 debut called "The Last Wave" we get Laswell on bass, Tony Williams on drums, and Derek Bailey on guitar, playing straight up free jazz like it's nobody's business. I don't know if I've ever been more annoyed by a guitarist than I was with Derek's playing on that one. I gave it 2 stars despite the talent of those who are playing on it.

"Arc Of The Testimony" is the second album from this band, released a year later in 1997. In the meantime Bailey has quit the band, so they show themselves as a duo here of Tony Williams and Bill Laswell with guests to fill out the sound. So why not bring in someone who is as prolific as Laswell, and that would be Buckethead on guitar. He's adding that "rock" element here on 3 tracks. But we also get a second guitarist this time in Nicky Skopelitis on the first seven songs. Nicky played in Laswell's band called MATERIAL in the late eighties, replacing Sonny Sharrock who was on their debut. Nicky is playing 6 and 12 string guitars while Buckethead is a light show here with his solos. Some players here!

Enter two legendary sax players from the free jazz world in Pharoah Sanders and Byard Lancaster and you might think that this sophomore release would follow in the style of the debut, with improvs galore and everyone doing their own thing. No, actually this is composed avant jazz with Laswell and Williams writing the music. Lastly we get American cornet player Graham Hayes, who also played with Laswell in the band MATERIAL. The sad part about this album that it would be Tony Williams last. He actually passed away during these sessions, and when the album was finished, so was the band, out of respect for the legendary drummer.

Laswell adds electronics and e-bow to his incredible bass playing here. The electronics tend to be in the form of spacey atmosphere. Some good variety on this one. This is all instrumental by the way. I can't say enough about Tony's drumming on here, the energy! He couldn't have been well, yet you would never know it by his performance. My favourite track is "Into The Circle" for the atmosphere and e-bow that are on display early then giving way to Tony and Bill and that killer rhythm section, then horns. A lot of dissonance, echo and effects like on "Bitches Brew".

"Gone Tomorrow" the opener, like "Into The Circle" are both around 9 1/2 minutes and the two longest pieces. Love the slow build and powerful atmosphere. Pharoah is screaming on his sax before 8 minutes. So those two tracks plus the final three songs round out my top five of the eight featured. There are no weak links here. This is a masterpiece and my favourite album from 1997. Yes Buckethead might seem out of place here with his style but what's left of that person I once was in my late teens is applauding big time. I would run out of adjectives describing those final three songs. Nice cover art as well.