Search - Jeff Lorber :: Wizard Island

LORBER & COMPANY TEAR IT UP!!

Baddstuff | astoria, ny United States | 03/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Simply put, this is a must-have Lorber CD, period! This was back when Kenny G actually had some fire to his playing. I still have this on vinyl and now CD and still listen to it regularly.

The band is super tight, energetic, and smokin'! Lorber has such a great feel for the keys and his playing is very tasty. The track 'Lava Lands' is my favorite and it just smokes. What a groove! Dennis Bradford holds it all together with some tight, funky, jazzy drumming. I love his drumming on this disc.

Sadly Jeff Lorber seens to be overlooked by way too many music fans and that is sad as the man is extremely talented. I've seen him in concert 3 times and he never disappoints. He has quite a few excellent releases in his catalog but like I said, this one in particular is a must-have!

www.electriceyes.us"

Instant Classic...... Heaven or Perfection?.... you choose.

Shanq | Akron Oh | 05/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this album(...YEAH I SAID ALBUM) in 1980 at 16 or 17.



This has got to be one of the best examples of the past, present, and future of this jazz form called Fusion!! ANYWHERE..EVER..PERIOD!



Past..... Jeff some how got his mentor legend Chick "Armandos Rumba" Corea to play one of the tights keyboard duo's we know of on "Roof tops".



Present...... Jeff shows off his mastery of band leading,and producing like an elder statesmen 30 years his senior.



Future...... Jeff had the insight to use the young (and then unknown outside of the Liberace orchestra) superstar Kenny.G (Then Kenny Gorelick before his elevator music affection took hold) to play sax on cuts like "Fusion Juice" and "Sweet" that were so tight to Jeffs keyboard that you can't tell if its a synth playing sax or a sax microed to moog.



The only downfall of this album is that it challenges "Softspace" (from 1978) for the spot of very best JLF album of all time.



The only solution is to get both of them (Wizard Island and Softspace).

Pay full retail if need be.



Warning..... Do not operate any vehical moving faster then "Park" or you will crash from druming on your dashboard!"

The Kick Off!

Andre' S Grindle | Bangor,ME. | 06/30/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jeff Lorber adds future solo muzak man Kenny Gorelick to his
musical arsenal and delivers a second Arista album!Now this is
an obvious follow up to "Water Sign" whitch I think could be
recommended first but 'Wizard Island" feaures the dancable
"Fusion Juice",the funky "City" and "Lava Lands",each of whitch
features Lorber's intruiging horn-like synthesizer phrasing.The
amazing feature here is Kenny's inventive,wailing sax solo's
(absolutely nothing like what he's become known for as a solo
artist) so move over Yellowjackets and Spyro Gyra!The Jeff
Lorber Fusion is definately misclassified-being actually one of
the jazzier fusion groups recording in the late 1970's and early
80's."