DAVID SANCIOUS & TONE: TRANSFORMATION (THE SPEED OF LOVE)

If you like a heavy dose of classic 70s prog-rock with your jazz fusion, then this is the record for you. I don't understand why this record didn't receive more attention when it came out. It is easily equal to, if not better than similar records by artists such as Return to Forever, Mahavishnu, Camel, Ponty, Holdsworth and Bruford. Throughout the album David displays a strong keyboard technique that shows influences from Chick Corea, Keith Emerson and Jan Hammer. I first heard this record at a Genesis concert , the sound man was using it to warm up the crowd. Unfortunately this was when Genesis was heading downhill and nothing they played that night could compare to the music on this record.

The album opens with Piktor's Metamorphisis, a jazz-rock processional tune with lots of great synth soloing that is equal parts Camel, Jan Hammer and ELP. This is followed by a Jimi Hendrix tribute called Sky Church Hymn #9 in which David shows that he isn't too bad on the guitar too. This song shows what The Experience could have sounded like if they had a bass player as good as Sancious' bassist Gerald Crosby, who along with drummer Earnest Carter is one of the best rhythm sections in a genre full of great rhythm sections. Sancious plays this song with the expected Hendrixisms, but David turns it up to eleven by adding some nice McLaughlin and Jeff Beck licks too.

Side two is a long jazz fusion suite that features many high powered synth workouts plus a beautiful choir section with Gayle Moran and others on vocals. I do hope fans of groups that combine jazz-fusion with 70s instrumental progressive rock will check this out, poor David, he really deserved much more recognition than he received.