AGORA

I should mention that this is a live album from Montreaux. "Penetrazione" gets us started as the guitar sounds build and bass and drums join in. The guitar starts to solo 2 minutes in. How good is this ! The guitar settles back but not for long. Sax 4 minutes in. Applause fills the air when it's over.

"Serra S Querico" opens with electric piano, bass and drums. Great sound ! The guitar starts to solo over top. A calm before 2 1/2 minutes then we get some relaxed sax as the bass continues. It starts to build slowly. Vocal melodies after 5 1/2 minutes then it kicks back in after 6 1/2 minutes with the sax blasting. Guitar a minute later. It blends into "Serra Querico II" where we get more vocal melodies and it turns fuller quickly with bass, drums and electric piano. Sax 2 minutes in. Great sound. The guitar joins in before 4 1/2 minutes. We get a big applause before 6 minutes but the song isn't over (haha). The band continues and when they stop the crowd cheers again.

"Acqua Celeste" opens with electric piano as bass, sax and drums join in. Drums only after 2 1/2 minutes as the electric piano comes and goes then kicks back in. The drumming is fantastic. The sax is back after 5 minutes and this blends into "Lorto Di Ovidio". It's mellow early on then the sax is leading the way as electric piano, bass and drums come in to help out.

A solid 4 stars for this one.

If you have purchased all the good Soft Machine albums + a big chunk of their live albums; you need to move on. Preferable to somewhere. I have a good idea where you should move next. To the two albums by this Italian band. This is their live album, which the album title may indicate.

The music here is long and lingering jazz/fusion compositions. They are not that overly technical. Melody and passion is the main theme here. Their sound is very Soft Machine like. They are not copycats by any means. For a start, there is no Elton Dean or even an Elton Dean clone here. But the rest is pretty similar.

The result is an album full of beauty and style. The woodwinds floats on the top of the bass and drums. There are some guitars here too. The jazz here is perhaps too simple and melodic for pure jazz fans. But for a beginner like myself; this album is a very good reason to get more into jazz.

In short; I love this live album. Yes, it is not perfect. But it is good enough for me.

4 stars

There is something in jazz that appeals to me. In particular when it is done by Soft Machine and the Canterbury bands. Those bands who mixes jazz and British prog rock. Agora from Italy on the other hand is mixing jazz with RPI. The result is not many miles away from my reference point in this genre; the almighty Soft Machine.

Agora's bass is the bass, drums and the organs. On this platform, the saxophones can weave their magic melodies. The saxophones is not as straight in your face and intense as I am used to from other jazz bands. But they are there and they really makes this album. But the organs is also great and I really love this interactions between saxophone and organs on this album. Just listen to the second song Pyramid di Domani and you will get my point.

The quality of the material on this album is great from the beginning to the end. I had no clue who this band was when I bought this album on the basis of it being listed here. But this album has given me a lot of joy during the last days. Agora is another great Italian band and high in my estimations.

4 stars

PS: When will I come out of the closet as a jazz fan ? Well, read into this review whatever you want.

AGORA were a pure Jazz-Rock band with high skills and great individual performances.It is easy to detect the strong WEATHER REPORT/RETURN TO FOREVER influences,while from the Italian scene their sound is close to that of PERIGEO or even NAPOLI CENTRALE.The five tracks of the album is great groovy but very intense Jazz-Rock with magnificent melodic saxes and smooth electric piano parts added next to the pounding bass lines,the solid drumming and the nice guitar solos.''Live in Montreux'' can also be very smooth at times with the slow- tempo rhythm section accompanying the crying guitars of Renato Gasparini,the background atmospheric multi-vocalization and the hypnotic sax of Ovidio Urbani.Light and professional interplays are all over the place and will please any fan of the style.

Speaking for myself,it is rather hard to find my music heaven next to a 100% Jazz-Rock album...but this one is really good with a some trully solid performances and comes easily recommended for both fans of Jazz-Rock and progressive music...3.5 stars.

Agora only released two albums, this studio album and a short live document that preceded it. In every possible way, Agora 2 is a perfection of the potential they had shown on the preceding live album. Weather Report and Perigeo (another Italian fusion band) are the main sources for inspiration on this sax and keyboard dominated fusion album. There is a guitar player as well but his presence remains more subtle then the rock-out dominance of a John McLaughnin or Al DiMeola.

The album has a rich atmosphere, relaxed, melancholic and mysterious, just as on Weather Report's first two albums. The music is very harmonious, not as free-styled as Weather Report but not too melodic neither. To sum it up, it found a nice balance between musicianship, ambience, gracefully drifting compositions and accessibility. The interplay between the musicians is amazing, constantly changing lead sections as if in dialogue with one another.

Agora is hardly the most original band out there, but they sure crafted a brilliant and moving jazz-rock album. A recommended entry point into the more atmospheric realm of fusion.

The sound of the recording isn't impeccable but it's good enough to show a band with a very confident and fluent interplay between the musicians. The music is very jazzy with some melodious elements. Very soothing, relaxing and skilfully played. The setlist is quite varied. Penetrazione has a bass line that reminds me of Coltrane's Love Supreme, Serra S Querico I is more upbeat and slightly funky. Part II of that track and Aqua Deleste are somewhat busier, varying guitar and saxophone solos. L'Orto Di Ovidio is gentle and atmospheric like the opener. None of the pieces are really outstanding but everything will sure be appreciated by jazz-rock enthusiasts.

If anything, the live album shows a talented band that needed a bit more time to grow into something really outstanding. Good album for fans.

"Punto Rosso" opens with electric piano as a fuller sound comes in quickly. Impressive ! Reminds me of MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA. Some excellent drum work here before it settles again. Sax comes blasting in before 2 1/2 minutes. There's so much going on .The guitar a minute later is fantastic. "Piramid Di Domani" has some atmosphere to open as acoustic guitar comes in. We get a melody 2 1/2 minutes in. The rest of the song is such a pleasure to listen to. "Tall El Zaatar" features intricate drumming with sax and electric piano early. It settles right down 3 minutes in then starts to build a minute later. Love the drumming ! The guitar 6 minutes in is great, very intricate and tasteful.

"La Bottega Di Duilio" has these solemn sax melodies before it kicks in before 1 1/2 minutes. Some nice guitar and drum work as sax plays over top. More impressive guitar 4 minutes in as the bass throbs. "Simbiosi (Vasi Comunicanti)" is a sad song with mellow piano and sax throughout. There is a brief outburst before 4 1/2 minutes. "Cavalcota Solare" is a great way to end this album. It's like everything is being held back here, lots of tension. A brief flurry 3 minutes in but it settles quikly. The next outburst is after 4 minutes as the guitar rips it up. And again after 6 1/2 minutes but it stays uptempo this time. I like everything about this track.

So 4 stars is a must for this extremely well played and arranged music.