A Great Trio
Mark A. Wellman | Plaucheville, LA United States | 03/20/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Three great musicians playing each other's tunes live... what a great fusion CD! To me it does not get too much better than this."
Very Good live album
tell it like it is | UK | 04/07/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I downloaded a couple of concerts from Gambale's tours round about this period, with joel taylor on drums. About half the material was on these downloads that appear here but different concerts(available at frank gambale.com). This is an excellent gig and well recorded, this trio spark off each other really well and are definitely inside the songs so are confident to stretch out with them. I am not keen on Gambale's smoother jazz efforts, but this is definitely not one of them. High order improv is the order of the day here. Highly recommended"
Fusional invasion of Australia by Italians?.....
Squire Jaco | Buffalo, NY USA | 11/20/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"To me, this is pure jazz/rock fusion. Played to perfection in a live venue, these compositions (and improvisations) shine in the hands of these three virtuosos. And for a live setting, the production is great!
Donati's drums, in particular, are mic'd perfectly. In fact, as you listen to this, it seems to be as much a drum showcase album as anything else. He's a fantastic rock drummer (probably in the top 5?) who possesses natural jazz sensibilities, which is a huge advantage for this style of music. Fierabracci is a fine bass player - his deep growling tapping has this bordering on jazz metal at times...but he never quite hops that fence (thankfully!). He really shows off his stuff on a fancy solo on the last track.
This is a trio, so there's a nice open feel to the music and a nice balance between all three musicians. When you're as talented on guitar as Frank Gambale, it's a real tribute to him that he doesn't try to steal the show from the other two band members here. Gambale is a singular talent, and I love his work on the Gambale-Hamm-Smith albums. This is just a further step into a harder edged style for him. He'll always have his detractors for whatever reason, and that's fine with them; I'm confused as to why some critics feel compelled to take foolhardy digs at his overall talents or his performance on this particular cd, or even suggest that another guitarist could have improved this album? That irks me.
This is a worthy cd folks, any way you cut it. It's actually one of the highest rated cd's I've reviewed here. Highly recommended.
I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:
Music quality = 9.3/10; Performance = 9.4/10; Production = 9/10; CD length = 10/10.
Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 9.4 ("5 stars")"