THE STANLEY CLARKE TRIO: JAZZ IN THE GARDEN

Returning to the modern contemporary but no way a straight conventional jazz and reverting to acoustic bass, having a trio including Hiromi lets no musician sleep on their laurels. Hiromi and Clarke are eager to experiment with textures and forms without sounding aggressively while White supports the flow seamlessly. You won't notice the typical 5/4 jazz pattern in many songs (One exception being "3 wrong notes", "Brain training" and "Solar"), all songs have a custom modern signature. The music is not really linked to jazz fusion, it's more laid-back but equally thought-provoking and exploratory - if you listen to "Take the Coltrane" - you'll see what irregularity I mean - the bass and drums are full of changes. "Isotope" has virtuoso jamming mainly by Hiromi, stunning chords and intensity of playing. "Solar" is the most upbeat song here and it reveals a lot of energy with soloing by each member. There is a surprinsingly good cover of the Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the bridge" with piano being the best instrument, excellent playing and jazz chord sequence again. A really nice collaboration!