Cary Kilner

 Cary Kilner's Picks: Volume 13

After that nice collection of funk from Mike, I feel compelled to present some outstanding fusion. This comes from one of my former students who loved the jazz I played in our chem-lab. In turn he turned me on to some quality fusion. So here you go; Tribal Tech, a San Francisco band you’ve just got to love. If they are not playing jazz, i.e. improvising, then they are standing on their heads. Scott Henderson has that hard-rock Jami Hendrix guitar sound, but dig his beautiful clean sound, exquisite technique, and interesting lines. The bass player, Gary Willis, is as bad as it gets. And the drums and keyboard; these four guys make a helluva lot of music. Be sure to check out some of their nine CDs.
 
Tribal Tech - Face First
This is a very interesting tune that displays their very tight playing, note the interesting change in tempo and development of intensity, when Scott begins his solo in half-time and then the energy builds when the tune doubles back to the original tempo. Play this loud.
 
Heads of State -Summer Serenade
Now to quiet it down a bit, here’s a nice mellow quartet with Gary Bartz on alto, a fine but little heard pianist, Larry Willis, and some deep bass playing by Buster Williams.
 
Nicholas Peyton - Potato Head Blues
Here’s our old friend, Nicholas, from his album, Dear Louis, for Louis Armstrong, aka Satchmo. I’ll let the music speak for itself, but dig towards the end when you can hear Nicholas really play like Louie. And a great clarinet solo by Eddie Daniels, I believe (there is no listing of players). Eddie played on the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis BB from Week 6. He is excellent and we shall hear more from him in the future.