CAB 2

This is Chambers, Auger, Brunel and MacAlpine's second album in the CAB series and was a big step-up from their first. It is a firm but elegant session that reintroduced contemporary jazz-rock to a comatose Fusion scene and surprised everyone with a compositionally strong, tightly-executed and cleanly recorded follow-up. In fact, of the three studio and one live recordings, 'CAB 2' is superior and really should be a part of any modern fusionhead's library. If you stop to think about it - the legendary Brian Auger, indisputably God-like shredder Tony MacAlpine, always ready session man and RTF alum Bunny Brunel, and Dennis Chambers, probably the best drummer in the universe - the results are not surprising. And no skimp here, more than half of the ten cuts are over seven minutes.

'Decisions' is fine-- melodic and smooth with a blistered solo from Tony. But 'Madeline' gets things going, opening with soft, cool chords from Auger that mimic a child's taunt, a lithe guitar-key phrase complimented by Brunel's counter riff, deft thunder rolls from Chambers and resolves into a pretty passage sprinkled with MacAlpine's chops. 'Dennis' is strong and full of tremendous playing by namesake Chambers. He makes it sound easy, like a separate species, a one-in-a-million breed of player and his performance on this record demands the attention of all drummers, and 'For Joe' is just as good, showing traditional fusion influences like Tony Williams and RTF. Some of the material is in the same neighborhood as the watered down pap jazz-rock had become as in 'South Side' and the tinny samba beats of 'Songs for My Friend', but most of it is downright classy. 9-minute 'Temperamental' is quietly fierce and easy going 'Sunday' to finish. Grammy nominated, and recommended.