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| Name: |
Peter Kenney
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| Rating: |
3 / 5 |
| Comments: |
This and the rest of the albums from this period have been reissued on a box set of Duke's MPS recordings. See his website for details |
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| Name: |
Juergen Martens
<dj.martens@t-online.de> |
| Rating: |
5 / 5 |
| Comments: |
FINALLY someone set out to reissue and remaster many of the countless treasures in the vaults of Germany's famous Black Forest jazz label MPS from the 60s/70s. Amomg the first to be released is George Duke's 1974 album Faces in Reflection which shows the artist at a very interesting point in his carreer - on one hand still playing conventional jazz with artists such as Joe Henderson, on the other exploring all new territories as a member of Frank Zappa's all-time-best edition of the Mothers of Invention. And it was Zappa who forced him (says Duke, tongue-in-cheek) to use his voice as well as introduced him to the wonderful weird sonic potential of the ARP syhnthesizers' sounds. Accompanied by Ndugu Leon Chancler on drums/percussion and John Heard on upright bass, Duke on some selections sings and uses Rhodes, Wurly and grand pianos, D6, ARPs and a lot of stuff more to create a mazmerizing musical universe that shows traces of what's been as well as the shapes of things to come. The highspeed Rhodes/synth frenzy on some tunes sound a lot like early Mahavishnu, the odd meters and weird sci-fi tones clearly refer to FZ, and tunes such as Maria Tres Filhos and Da Somba show his beginning Brazilian Love Affair. All in all a timeless masterpiece on a level with Herbie's best work. More of this soon, please! |
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