DRUM 'N' VOICE VOL. 3

Another go at the Milano-based collaborations with Nicolosi family and a whole bunch of all-star guests. Fasten your seat belts: Billy is on fire; a funk rampage!

1. "Electric Man" (7:06) great Jazz-Rock Fusion led by Rossana and Billy's hard-driving rhythm track while Lino and Pino provide rich support (with some awesome Jan Hammer-like synth riffing from Pino), but it's Brian Auger's spirited performance on Hammond and Fender Rhodes throughout that provides many of the song's highlights. Nice to hear Brian still at the top of his game (Billy, too!)! (13.75/15) 2. "Alive" (5:14) Chaka Khan and Dora Nicolosi singing together, side-by-side! Pinch me cuz I must be dreaming. Both ladies are given multiple tracks to form a pretty awesome choir effect to the vocals, start to finish, but it's really Chaka's song: her voices and stylings given far more prominence than those of Dora. The foundational music is pretty basic Jazzy-R&B with some truly excellent rhythm guitar work from Lino and some awesome keyboard support (and soloing) from Pino on both Fender Rhodes and Hammond. Such great sound engineering from the Nicolosi Brothers! (9/10)

3. "Roller" (8:24) George Duke and Bob Mintzer are the featured artists on this truly funky ride on which Billy really lays down some extraordinary chops! Matter of fact, this is one of the few songs I've ever heard on which Rossana's bass playing doesn't seem to "fit": it's really 100% Billy creating and holding down the funk! George and Bob pretty much spend the first two minutes repeating and reinforcing the same melodies, playing in tandem without even creating any harmonies. George's Nord synth soars and dives like a firecracker in his solo in the fourth minute while Pino holds down the mid-range with his Fender Rhodes. Bob finally gets a nice, long solo in the fifth and sixth minutes--with the band transitioning into a kind of cool bounce-rhythm in that sixth minute--which serves to amplify attention to Billy's amazing drumming (and give Rosanna a little space in which to inject some of her own creative flourishes). Not annoying, but I'm not really much of a fan of this sax soloist's style--nor of the "bounce-rhythm"--especially when they're both extended over four minutes! With only a fadeout saving us from having to endure more. Were it not for the light it gives to hear/study Billy's playing, it would be a real yawner. (17.5/20)

4. "We The People" (5:34) Gino Vannelli! (One of my all-time favorite vocalists and music creators.) At first his voice sounds more like Simply Red's Mick Hucknal, but then, with the arrival of the first chorus, we finally find Gino breaking into his disctinctively forceful and exclusively unique sound. Solid song on which one of Jazz-Rock Fusion's great vocal masters shows why he is revered the way he is--and should be! (8.875/10)

5. "Destiny" (6:47) with Alex Acuña stepping in to help out in the percussion department, and guest John Scofield generating the odd lead sounds from his electric guitar, we're off to another great start to another great funky jazz track. Billy and Rossana are back in true sync--with additional help from a percussive synth bass and some of Pino and Lino's other tricks as well another awesome contribution from Brian Auger. The tit-for-tat duel of Scofield and Auger is without doubt the highlight feature here but one cannot (should never) discount the allure and magical properties of the rest of the music being created by Billy and the Nicolosi family. (13.5/15)

6. "I'd Like To Change" (5:04) Dora Nicolosi on the lead vocal, people! Given a great tune by her brothers, great groove from Billy, Rossana, and Pino, the performances are all supendous--especially Lino's surprise jazz guitar flourishes in the third minutes--but neither the basic chord progression nor the melodies given/offered by Dora are A-list "hookers." As a matter of fact, my absolute favorite parts of the song are A) Lino's afore-mentioned solo, B) the Vannelli Brothers-like "C" sectino in the instrumental fourth minute, and C) Pino's wonderful Hammond play throughout. (8.875/10)

7. "Dreamer" (4:24) another song that makes me fear that the Nicolosi Brothers are losing their magical grip on earworms: that they're choosing to employ more cerebral chord and melody progressions, inadvertantly sacrificing the pleasant hooks for the sake of funkiness. Plus, the presence of another innocuous sax lead just gives me DAVE SANBORN heebeejeebees. (I got so burned out on the David Sanborn, Najee, Kenny G sax sound phenomena back in the 80s!) Still, this song offers more GREAT performances from Billy and Pino. (8.875/10)

8. "Route" (4:48) a hard-driving synth-led tune that reminds me of Boney M and Rick Braun's "Chain Reaction." The lead/solo keyboard, bass, and electric guitar performances on this song are so high-quality that I find myself constantly checking and re-checking to see which guests are providing which instruments, but IT'S ENTIRELY DUE TO THE NICOLOSI's! (and Billy). (9.5/10)

9. "Stratus" (6:30) from the opening bass and drum line the listener is reminded of why this song is one of Jazz-Rock Fusion's greatest/most iconic songs ever. Anyone who gets to play on this one must feel the goosebumps of feeling "I'm playing 'Stratus'! with THE Billy Cobham!" GREAT bass play (and sound) from Rossana. GREAT synth contributions from Bob Mintzer. PERFECT keyboard playing from Pino Nicolosi and absolutely STUNNING/amazing lead guitar work from Lino. It's almost like you can't go wrong playing any version of this amazing song! And then, of course, you get the Master, the song's composer, breaking loose at the very end to remind us why this song, this drummer, and this man is considered one of THE absolute greatest of the Greats. (10/10)

Total time 53:51

Overall, the impression Vol. 3 of the Drum 'N' Voice collaborations is slightly disappointing to me. This is due, as pointed out above, to the Nicolosi Brothers' abandonment of easy/smooth melodies and chord structures for the sake of funking up the funk to the absolute funkiest funk they can mathematically conceive. Call me a sap, but I prefer the pleasing smooth side of Jazz-Funk: that's the music I can put on speakers to loop over and over all day long.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of Jazz-Funk that gets it's high marks from three great songs--one of which is a cover/remake of one of Billy's iconic classic tunes.

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