A sharp departure from 1999's acclaimed With a Song in My Heart, which featured
Soloff in a rare straight-ahead jazz setting. This outing, in contrast, features no fewer than four songs from the classic rock canon:
Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Susie Q" and "Born on the Bayou,"
Jimi Hendrix's "Up from the Skies," and -- no kidding --
Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." One almost wonders why they left out
Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird." In all seriousness,
Soloff and crew have a lot of fun with these, especially the
Hendrix tune, which was a staple of the
Gil Evans Orchestra's repertoire when
Soloff was a principal member. Even the supermarket-ready reading of "Stairway to Heaven" has its rewards --
Lou Marini playing the opening countermelody on a real flute instead of a Mellotron, for instance. The rest of the program consists of solid if unremarkable fusion and jazz, with saxman
Lou Marini contributing the three strongest compositions: "Quiero No Puedo," "Starmaker," and "Don't Speak" (not to be confused with the
No Doubt song of the same name). Guitarist
Joe Beck penned the challenging "Tout Va Lews," during which
Soloff plays a great solo. Bassist
Mark Egan brought in the funk finale "Frog Legs," which features another strong trumpet solo and impeccable rhythm and lead guitar work from
Beck. Drummer
Danny Gottlieb is in fine form on all these tracks.
Soloff brings in a tribe of guest stars for the adventurous yet meandering title track -- synth and vocal man Delmar Brown (who wrote the tune), guitarist
Hiram Bullock, bassists
Will Lee and Chulo, drummer
Jeff "Tain" Watts, trumpeter
Miles Evans (
Gil's son), and even Letterman sidekick
Paul Shaffer on Hammond organ. The tune is a peppy mix of world pop and funk, with some over the top wah-wah guitar from
Bullock. Although it works as a sort of groove-oriented centerpiece for this stylistically far-flung album, it goes on far too long. A little more direction would have helped. ~ David R. Adler