DIDIER LOCKWOOD

Certainly 'unique' is an apt description for such a performance, and, to me (at least I thought), it's unique just for existing at all! The great Didier Lockwood, the apparent leader on this date, was few-times violinist for the originators and original purveyors of Zeuhl itself, Magma; best I can say, around this time (at least during the early-80s). Lockwood's bio here suggests his featuring in Pierre Moerlen's Gong also, which I wasn't aware of before, finding his only appearance was on Downwind (1979). Interestingly, he just missed the other most notable name present here during his brief stint "in" Gong, guitar-wizard Allan Holdsworth being a band member of this latter-days group from 1976-78--and then appearing an album afterward, Time Is The Key, also 1979. Moreso a straight Jazz recording, The Unique Concert band also features Gordon Beck on piano, Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark on an upright contrabass and Aldo Romano on drums. In all of my ignorance, apparently Lockwood and Holdsworth performed together for some time (or across a span of years). I found a version of the second track, "Zebulon Dance", from '84, and, unsure of its date, the masterful duo recorded "Crazy Eight" live with Jack Bruce(!!!), David Sancious(!!!) and Billy Cobham(!!!)! Like, can you imagine this?!... Anyhow, here's this review haha. This band is also hot, don't get me wrong. For fans of Hard-Bop, Post-Bop and all of the improvisation which often accompanies these, check it.

This release begins with the longest track, the side-length epic "Flight", at first sparse and warmly performed. The piece opens up the stage to a spearheaded violin solo over what I would assume is a Samba rhythm. Truly a forward-driving section! Blazing is the young Allan Holdsworth's solo to follow, not letting up for the majority; he's one of the best. Holdsworth associate Gordon Beck holds the fort down on acoustic piano, tying the rhythm section together and tethering the soloists to the stratosphere before his own solo on the 88s. Nearly 6 minutes in and the fact that the post-boppin' isn't prepared to let up, and is still working it for all its money, is really something to marvel; I suppose what you'd want most out of a number like this. Allan returns with more fire, as a duet between him and Didier begins. Wickedly fast, both of them, I can imagine just how fun this was to play, just volleying back and forth with vigor and determination. We fall away to the softness of the beginning for a delectable bass solo by Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark, eventually tied back down to earth with an increasingly silken reentry by Beck. Some beautiful avant-somethings here at the end, as Holdsworth and Lockwood flutter wildly and atonally(?) before joined slowly (and artfully) by the rest of the ensemble. Longwinded, but great Jazz from an interesting era to be Jazz.

Up next is the bright and sunny "Zebulon Dance", more of a light Jazz-Rock number. I have to say, in the midst of the cool of the basic composition, Holdsworth astounds with this solo. "Fast Travel" follows, and the wild-bucolic intro was immediately reminiscent to some of the quieter, more folksy numbers and intros performed by Mahavishnu Orchestra. The main thrust of the piece, a section of machine-gun fast playing by Lockwood, is really beautiful and classic. This is followed by an expectedly hyper-modal (if that makes a lick of sense) solo from Allan. Just the fact that anyone's fingers can move with the speed of sound is amazing, but this group has at least two such virtuosos (a term I hope I don't use lightly). And this is another moment where I'm kicking myself for not digging into Gordon Beck yet! He's killing it. And right on that level, one of the shining-est examples of drummer Aldo Romano's flavor, a more freeform feel player, reminding me at times of the style of Jack DeJohnette. What makes this track shine in addition to the performances and soloing is the actual composition of the track; hopefully it will appeal to you as well.

A return to that pastoral sorta thing, next is "Halfway House", I neglected to mention, the second of three not-quite 20-minute, but still over 10-minute numbers. The front half of this was a major showcase of Gordon Beck, not joined again by the band, most prominently Holdsworth with a solo, until minute 4; another delectable moment, of course. As has been common enough on this date, it ended as it began (but finally, you'll appreciate, with a single, quieted cough haha). Approaching the close, our second-to-last and second longest (at ~15 minutes), "Sunbird" is another starting with solitary Lockwood, flitting his proverbial wings in the hot, beating sun. Honestly, impressive to have this imagery brought to life in a very real way. We return to absolute optimistic brightness as the band joins in with more Latin flair. For fans, therefore, of Chick Corea? Methinks, yes! Hard not to find yourself repeating yourself with these kinds of releases; Lockwood's return is pretty fantastic. At one point, he makes his violin apparently laugh! I just am at a loss for words haha! Jenny-Clark picks things up from the quiet of the thematic rhythm section with a plunky, at times funky, bass solo. Certainly an impressive number to close out, yet I think folks should be aware that its appeal may be limited here. In a very real way, this is the last song on the album, as the final track is an interview with our drummer, Aldo Romano. And, of course, being a French release, interviewing a French musician, this final moment on the disc is in French, and I, almost strictly an English speaker, am at a loss. [Because of this, my averaging for my personal rating will only depend upon the first 5 of 6 tracks.]

True Rate: 3.5/5.0

Well, this is a Magma album that won't openly say it for a few reasons, namely because it's instrumental, and sometimes wanders away from the Zeuhl genre? But make no mistakes, all four participants were at one time or another in Magma, and most likely simultaneously together in the late 70's. That was a few years before this album's release in 81, though. Yup, Jannik's instantly recognizable bass thumps, Christian's distinctive skin banging instantly reminds you of the Kobaian bunch, and Benoit's Rhodes and assorted Kb reinforces the déjà-entendu feeling. Of course, the main difference is that this is only a quartet, and it's without the typical Kobaian Orff-ian choirs.

The album opens on the 24-mins sidelong epic "GHK Go To Miles" (Davis??), a very moody piece that oscillates between very calm piano to wild fusion, while remaining typically Zeuhl at all times, but that doesn't go without some typical flaws: Vander's drums are often too present in the calmer moments. There is a brief Bolero moment around the 20-mins mark as well. The shorter flipside features three tracks, starting with its Harley Davidsonian-opening Overdrive (I can tell you that it's rather panicking when you're driving), a 100 MPH piece that has Jannick blowing all four cylinders (uh, I mean bass strings ;o)))) down the highway. The quieter (at first) 7-mins 767 ZX pieces features more Lockwood than all that had gone on beforehand in the album. The album closing slow-starting Reliefs (in French it, means hilly landscapes or sculptural elements or even meal leftovers) slowly climbs up the heavy slopes and even gets quite riffy, but the middle section suddenly drops intensity, tries to capture back the old momentum, but has to find another goat trail, to end up some place else

Does Didier have a presceance as to why this album bears his name (outside the obvious alphabetical order) or why it's classified under his name? I can't really say that his presence is determinant and that he's a bigger cylinder than his other three team mates. Nevertheless, the album is certainly worth a good investigation for Magma aficionados, but it's relatively unrepresentative of Lockwood's solo output. BTW, I've seen this album with a very different grey, yellow and blue tyre imprint artwork as well.

2.5 stars really!!!

Second album of this group (despite its Phoenix entendre), but it seems the line-up was fairly stable one. A classic quartet (I'll include keyboardist Guez as a member, because he's present on most tracks) backs up Didier's violin, but we're definitely in the stinky years (80's) in terms of music production values and in a cul-de-sac rut for the type of fusion DLG was making (everything having said 10 zillion times before). OK, the musicianship is flawless, the songwriting good (though hardly uninspired or inventive), but something is mildly irritating with P90, though one can survive if played as a soft 'fond sonore'. Indeed, the album is rather flawed with the way it was recorded as all the 80's recording industry vices were used; though for jazz, it might not be as obvious as for the rock and pop realm. In the present case, it's mostly the synthetic drum sounds that puts me off, but the whole thing sounds too smooth jazz' hardly any fiery soloing or interplay, and if there was any, no doubt it would've been eroded by some kind f effect, like a Synclavier.

OK, I said smooth jazz in the above paragraph, but P9O is definitely more than that since there are some funky tracks (Cartoon being the liveliest of the album), and there is an atrocious latino-jazzy number as well, as if they had to show to us they were able to do the genre as well. Songwriting-wise, it's mostly Didier Lockwood, but guitarist Ecay writes two and helps out on a couple more, plus arranges a few (as does KB-man does as well)

Unless you appreciate fusion albums from this era, you'd better stay away from, because it also bears another flaw of the era: its length. OK, it's not filled to the brim, but it's simply too long, especially when it's a little twee and lame like in the present. It's not all bad of course, but there are dozens (if not hundreds) of albums that deserves much more attention.

After coming to national attention with his Brother Francis (piano & kb) with The Visitors than passing through the main Zeuhl legends of Magma and Zao, Didier Lockwood embarked on a solo career with his aptly titles Jazz-Rock album in 76. He would record two more a little later on in the decade, but in between working for others (Rahmann, for ex). In the meantime, the Lockwoods had also formed their own group called Surya with Zao's drummer Truong and two lesser-known but very-capable musicians. Originally recorded in August 77, this album didn't have much luck and was released only in 80 on the very small label Cornelia, but by this time the momentum had changed for that kind of music.

Lockwood is well within the French jazz violinist after Grapelli and more closely Ponty, but he never enjoyed the high profile of those two. It is of course a little sad, because he's a very solid virtuoso, as his older brother Francis is as well. Actually, the whole group is a typical example of a JR/F band of the late 70's and they soundscape are well in line with the monsters groups of the era, especially Mahavishnu (the bros played with McL) and JL Ponty, violin's presence obliging. Despite having a double KB attack and Didier's violin (but the Lockwood bros are the youngest by far in the group), it appears that the group was rather collegial as all five had their words in the composition dept.

Their brand of mainly instrumental fusion is typically what you'd expect from the era, but some tracks have a funkier feel, notably on Madagascar-born bassist Sylvain Marc's two compositions, the rapid-fire Stakau and the choppy Do Anything, which happens to have vocals, though they're somewhat buried in the mix (more than you'd expect). Opening on the other keyboardist Plouton's Agartha composition, one can only think of the MO Mk1 albums like Birds Of Fire, but with the notable absence of a blistering guitar. The following Truong composition Aspiring Answer is a much calmer affair, but gradually picks in intensity without losing its subtlety. Didier's Automatic Man and Francis' two tracks are more "progressive" in the genre, with long intros and intimate climates, especially Aura.

But as fine as the album is worthy of discovering, you won't miss much if you don't either, because Surya doesn't reinvent the genre or add anything significant to it. Don't get me wrong, this is genre-consolidating work that can only find a legitimate space in your shelves, but so can a few other dozens of albums. If you want something from the Lockwood bros, this and Didier's debut album are about as fine as you'll find.

NB: the few Cd reissues I have seen mostly show the album under DL's name with Surya as the album's title, but originally, this was a indeed a full-group effort.

Top, Vander, Widemann and Lockwood - 4 great musicians gathered for an jazz fusion album - nothing special so far, but when you look at the pedegree of these 4 musicians then something is diffrent. I don't know if this album must be under Lockwood name or separately puted but the line up is like this: 3 musicians coming from zeuhl french legends Magma + the great violonist Didier Lockwwod who had many colaborations across the years with Gong, UZEB, ZAO or even Magma. The album issued in 1981 and named simply Fusion is a roller coster of the genre, some plenty of good moments here specially on Overdrive or 767 ZX, great musicianship, top notch performance but I think the album is little date it now, but not bad at all in the end. Some great breaks and up tempo passges that really set the album for a good mood, but a piece like nearly 25 min long GHK Go to Miles is a bit boring without memorable moments and goes even in avant prog/jazz teritory here and there. So, a forgotten album I must say who is good for sure, but nothing really is impressive overall, I know better albums from this genre who has far more intrsting in arrangements. My CD version from 1991 has a diffrent cover then the original issue and is released by french label JMS the property of Jean-Marie Salhani who is focused on jazz rock/fusion band and artists.