Brian Blade: If You See Lurah
Musicians:
Brian Blade (drums),
Myron Walden (alto sax), Melvin Butler (tenor & soprano saxes), John Cowherd (piano, Wurlitzer), Jeff Parker (guitar), Dave Easley (pedal steel guitar), Daniel Lanois (mando guitar), Christopher Thomas (bass)
.Composed by Brian Blade
.Recorded: Oxnard, CA
Rating: 92/100 (learn more)
Besides being among the most in-demand drummers of the last ten years in both the jazz and pop fields, Brian Blade has formed a group that doesn't sound like most drummers' bands. In fact it doesn't sound like any other band, and there are reasons for this. First, Blade is at least as much a musical drummer as a rhythmic one. Second, he also plays the guitar and often composes on this instrument, which gives his songs a totally different harmonic tinge than those composed on the piano. Third, the lineup of his band, where guitars (among them the pedal steel) and reeds dominate, provides a thick and mellow sound unheard in jazz before the end of the 1990s. This track is an excellent example of how Blade's Fellowship blew a whiff of fresh air into jazz: gorgeous multi-instrumental voicings, frank melodies, long notes instead of breathless solos, and soft yet firm drumming to knit everything together.
Reviewer: Thierry Quénum
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Tags: 1990s jazz · drums
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