Source is
Bob Mintzer's second album as a leader. Recorded in 1982 for the Cheetah label, it was previously released only in Japan.
Source was recorded with an alternating larger ensemble that includes in various places keyboardists
Don Grolnick and
Mark Gray, guitarist
Hugh McCracken, bassists
Jaco Pastorius (with whom
Mintzer had tenured on the
Word of Mouth big band LP), and
Will Lee, drummers
Peter Erskine and
Brian Brake, and horn players
Lew Soloff,
Randy Brecker, and
Alan Rubin, among others. In many ways this foreshadows the work that
Mintzer would do with
the Yellowjackets eight years later. It's sheeny studio jazz-funk and contemporary knotty big band work. This set contains a number of vocal performances by
Carter Cathcart, on the soulful opener "Late Night with You," and the now dated funk of the title cut -- it's the vocoders, the compressed saxophone sound and particularly, the flat drums. This isn't a stellar date by any stretch of the imagination, but hearing
Pastorius on the title cut redeems it somewhat. There is also the Afro-Latin groove on "I Don't Know" which has teeth and a killer arrangement, but the production is a little sterile. "Mr. Fone Bone" fares far better with
Pastorius and a melody that could have been written by him and performed by
Weather Report.
Grolnick's B-3 underneath all those horns is particularly wonderful.
Mintzer begins a solo only to interrupt it with a knotty horn arrangement that changes the color of the tune while it cooks on the strength of the rhythm section. It's the album's best moment. "Centering" is a small group ballad with a lovely solo from
Mintzer on tenor. The final cut, "Spiral," begins almost classically with the winds and horns playing delicately before opening into a funky jazz romp, again with
Pastorius' bass leading the charge. But the tune doesn't stay there; it's nuanced, with an assortment of textures and dynamics that make it one of the great exercises of restraint in
Mintzer's career. It's a fine finish. Musically, there is a lot to enjoy here, and if the '80s over-production doesn't get in your way as a listener, it's easy to recommend this.