[.ca] Spectrum

Un Essentiel amazon.fr:
Ex-batteur du groupe de Miles Davis, de Dreams (avec les frères Brecker) et surtout du Mahavishnu Orchestra (en compagnie de John McLaughlin), l'américain Billy Cobham fut à la pointe des recherches jazz en terme de fusion entre ce courant et le rock, qui commençait à envahir les charts du début des années 70. À la séparation du Mahavishnu Orchestra, en 1973, Cobham choisit, rapidement, d'enregistrer un album solo, afin de poursuivre ses recherches. Il s'entoure de compagnons de choix (Jan Hammer, Ron Carter mais aussi étonnement Ray Barretto) pour un album de pure fusion où la virtuosité rivalise avec l'efficacité. Tous ces "enfants" de Miles Davis apportent une touche de fraîcheur à un genre qui allait considérablement perdre de son allant au cours de la seconde moitié des années 80. C'est d'ailleurs dans ce cadre temporel que Cobham allait se relancer en créant un groupe nommé... "Spectrum" (1975). --Eric Frank

From Amazon.co.uk:
Cobham's first album as a leader, in 1973, is a jazz-rock classic. As on his slightly earlier outings with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Cobham dazzles with rapid-fire pyrotechnics. But, listening carefully, he also does his job of rhythmic support--for this, he calls on his roots in drum-corps and Latin timbale drumming. His compositions here set fire to a stunningly tight band. The scowling, scurrying, skirmishing performance by the late rock-guitar ace, Tommy Bolin, is particularly memorable. He merges beautifully with Cobham's Mahavishnu bandmate, Jan Hammer (Moog/keyboards), who eggs Bolin on with warp-speed synthesized guitar sounds. The band was just as involved rhythmically as McLaughlin's but had a gritty rapid-transit flavour where Mahavishnu was on a spiritual quest. --Peter Monaghan

One of the groundbreaking "Jazz Fusion/Funk" recordings:
Almost 30 years after "Spectrum" was recorded, there still seems to be a youthful interest in "funk jazz" and "fusion"; especially now that digital sampling has exploded into the music world and e-musicans are trying to create music that is both dancible and sonically interesting. Moreover, "Spectrum" almost serves as a "how to manual" for making tasteful music from these genres. It features some very good musicians in Cobham, Jan Hammer, Tommy Bolin, Joe Farrell, Ron Carter, and others. I highly recommend it along with Jeff Beck's "Blow by Blow". Admittedly I rarely listen to either much anymore, but that tends to happen after a few hundred listens.

Fusion goes to funk:
I really don't like the word fusion, because people think it means different things. might not call this album fusion at all, it's more like straight funk. It's like anything else Billy Cobham has done solo, maybe a little more intricate. Instead of the late 70s solofest jams and the post-80s horn funk, Billy has created an actual band for this record, with some of the best interplay I've heard. It's got the wonderful Jan Hammer on keys, a fusion regular who adds to every album he graces. The first song starts with a Hammer solo you've got to hear. For the most part the bass takes a back seat, with no solos but great lines, and Ron Carter even plays acoustic on a few tracks. The album also has very few horns, a great trumpet feature here and there, but mostly the album focuses on the guitar/keys/drums. Of course Billy takes many of his usual snare-drenched solos, but he keeps them mostly between the songs as intros so as not to disrupt the very catchy grooves going on. Still, even under the solos and melodies he's going crazy as only a few can without losing control of the tight band. Tommy Bolin, a guitar player that unfortunately few have heard of, is the star of this album. He had been on the rock circuit with Deep Purple and other bands, but on this album he is as good as anyone else I've heard, and definitely the best choice for this album. John McLaughlin is a ownderful guitar player in the straight fusion sense, and his technical skill is unprecedented, but on an album as funky as this, a rock/blues player is a better choice (Not that John can't play rock, but you know what I mean). My favorite song is Taurian Matador, which is simply Jan and Tommy trading 4s over a sweet beat. This album isn't as out-there or straight-8 as Mahavishnu albums, but it is really funky, every groove is perfect, my only complaint is that it's not longer.

From Rock To Funk To Jazz:
One of the things I enjoyed about the 1970s fusion era was the way it allowed musicians to indulge their taste for different genres. Artists are easily pigeonholed, and the more successful they are, the harder it can be to break out of the role they are cast in by fans, the media, and their own promoters. Miles Davis recognized this stultifying syndrome in jazz and refused to be trapped, breaking ground for the merging of segregated forms with his pivotal album "Bitches Brew." Other pioneers, like Ornette Coleman, Tony Williams, Joe Zawinul, and John McLaughlin, also cast off the stale conservatism of "mainstream" jazz and experimented with combinations of jazz improvisation with rock, eastern, Latin American, electronic, and purely abstract forms. In the aptly titled "Spectrum," Cobham revealed his interest in, and aptitude for, rock and funk, as well as considerable compositional skills. Fans who were used to the more esoteric, odd-metered intensity of the wildly original Mahavishnu Orchestra might have been disappointed by the down-to-earth, straight time jams found in Billy's solo work, but those of us who appreciate a solid, funky groove along with hot solos immediately cottoned to this side of his personality. We also dug the fact that he could go from barnburner tracks like "Quadrant 4" and "Stratus" to the cool and jazzy "Le Lis" and it was the most natural thing in the world. Yeah, you could dig rock, you could dig jazz: it was all good. "Crosswinds," "Spectrum," and "Total Eclipse," were mainstay albums in many collections during the '70s. Each one reveals different aspects of Mr. Cobham's special talents and tastes. In my humble opinion, they are essential listening for anyone interested in the evolution of jazz-rock.

Classic must-have Fusion!:
I'll keep it short. This album is as good as it gets with regards to Jazz Fusion. This is THE Billy Cobham album to get. A lot of fusion is just mindless noodling, and as a result the syle gets a bad rap. This album, along with "Inner Mounting Flame" and most stuff by Weather Report and Chic Corea is the quality stuff. This is a good starting point for anyone wanting to explore the musical style.

A word to guitarists::
This cd is groundbreaking in an aspect that hasn't yet been referred to: the union of the more frantic 'Mahavishnu' type soloing ,(McLaughlin, DiMeola) with a more relaxed, blues inflected style,(Clapton,Allman), from Bolin. Up until this moment the two soloing styles had been at odds with each other; the fusion guys thinking the blues-rock guys weren't ambitious enough, the blues guys thinking the fusion guys weren't soulful enough. Bolin was the man for the job of unifying the styles, combining a relaxed bluesy vibrato with chops to spare; still the hallmark of the best modern soloists.

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