Despite the disappointing attempt at contemporary jazz on
Note Worker, guitarist
Frank Gambale proved on
Passages that he doesn't give up easily. His reputation as a supreme technician had long been established during his years with
Chick Corea and on his early solo releases, but
Gambale had also been nurturing an identifiable group sound as well (regardless of the personnel). Unfortunately, his penchant for composition and arranging does not contain the same inspiration that his guitar playing does. Most of the selections lack imagination and creativity, and are simply vehicles for mind-blowing
Gambale solos. This prevents him from achieving the same type of commercial success experienced by the likes of
Pat Metheny or
George Benson. The music here is livelier than on
Note Worker, partly attributable to the presence of keyboard whiz
Otmaro Ruiz and a cleaner guitar tone, but ends up being too inconsistent to have much of an impact for the fusion fanatics or contemporary jazz aficionados.
Gambale would give this formula one more shot on Thinking Out Loud, but would eventually find his niche playing high-powered fusion with the genre's top players. Of note, the Japanese release contains a cover of
Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale." ~ Robert Taylor