Track Listing

1. Samurai Hee Haw
2. Resolution
3. Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair
4. Bass Desires
5. Wishing Doll
6. Mojo Highway
7. Thanks Again

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #135211 in Music
• Released on: 1988-07-01
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Recorded 1985 at Power Station, New York

Personnel: Marc Johnson - (bass), Bill Frisell - (guitar, guitar synthesizer), John Scofield - (guitar), Peter Erskine - (drums)

Customer Reviews

Astonishingly good!
I bought this LP (yes, it was on vinyl) when it was originally released and listened to it again yesterday. The CD features bassist Marc Johnson, drummer Peter Erskine and guitarists John Scofield and Bill Frissel. The creativity displayed throughout by all present is breathtaking. The interplay between Scofield and Frissel is at the absolute highest level and the highly distictive playing of each of them militates against any confusion as to who is playing which part. The voices at play are as individual as if they had been a trumpet and sax. Scofield is the more conventional guitarist but that is in no way indicative of the slightest degree of mediocrity; his lines weave through the tunes and leave no corner unexplored yet the guitarist leaves plenty of space for everyone to breath. Frissel remains in a world of his own making and paints with sound in the way we have come to know. His intonation is wonderfully idiosyncratic and he always sounds out of tune without ever straying from the tempered note. Astonishing.

'Samurai Hee Haw', a Johnson original, has become something of a standard but this is, if I am not mistaken, the original take. The piece is defined by Johnson's line but the Eastern flavoured melody is simple yet intriguing. Erskine underpins everything with aplomb. 'Resolution' is taken from Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' but the nature of this ensemble takes the tune in a whole new direction. The melodic interplay between Frissel and Scofield is a pleasure to hear, as each patiently defers to the other throughoout. Is jazz a democracy? Erskine's 'Bass Desires' again features Frissel and Scofield dancing together against a Johnson pedal and the feel generated is unprecedented. 'Thanks Again', a Scofield tune, was never better than it is here.

The CD is a must have for anyone seeking to comprehend the potential of a two guitar jazz setting. This is as good as it gets.