LIVE IN MONTREUX

A short-lived Italian Jazz Rock band,AGORA were formed in 1974 in Ancona as a quintet featuring bass,guitars,drums,keys and saxes.They had a good live activity and they even performed at the famous jazz festival of Montreux in Switzerland in 1975.Surprisingly for a new band this short performance was meant to be the band's first official release.

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.