Dig this, fusion fans – the legendary jazz-rock fusion outfit Brand X has reunited for a lengthy tour beginning this fall and running through the spring of 2017. Featuring three of the four original band members (and before you start, no…Phil Collins will not be attending), Brand X will headline at Progtoberfest in Chicago on October 21st, 2016 before heading out to perform in metropolises as Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, and Boston, among others.
For you youngsters who have no idea of exactly who or what Brand X is, the groundbreaking band was formed back in 1975 by guitarist John Goodsall, bassist Percy Jones, and drummer Kenwood Dennard, all of whom will be part of the Brand X reunion tour. Other members, like Phil Collins (Genesis) and Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson) came and went, but whatever the band’s line-up at the moment, Brand X kicked out an inspired and pioneering blend of jazz, progressive rock, and Ethnic music that influenced a generation of like-minded sonic trailblazers.
Contemporaries of such influential 1970s-era jazz-rock fusion bands as Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Return To Forever, Brand X released three critically-acclaimed studio albums in three years – 1976’s Unorthodox Behaviour, 1977’s Moroccan Roll, and 1978’s Masque – as well as 1977’s Livestock, recorded live at the legendary Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London. Although none of the albums climbed any higher than #125 on the Billboard album chart, their influential was long-reaching, and Goodsall and Jones kept the Brand X brand rockin’ and rollin’ through the end of the century and another half-dozen albums.
The core Brand X line-up of Goodsall, Jones, and Dennard will be joined on tour by keyboardist Chris Clark, formerly of the Who bassist John Entwistle’s solo band, along with percussionist Scott Weinberger. During the October and November 2016 legs of their upcoming tour, the reunited Brand X will perform material from their groundbreaking first three studio albums; beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. We’ll share Brand X tour dates as soon as they’re available, but in the meantime, get you some of these fine Brand X albums on CD:
They’re both bona fide legends – singer/songwriter Jon Anderson and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. Anderson, of course, spent 35 years fronting prog-pop chartbusters Yes, but has also enjoyed a lengthy and successful solo career as well as working on ground-breaking collaborations with musicians as diverse as Rick Wakeman, Vangelis, and Kitaro (plus there was one solid album by the Yes spin-off band Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe).
Ponty may be less well-known to rock music fans, but he’s no less a talent. A traditional jazz violinist who had flirted with bop and free-jazz styles, Ponty pioneered the use of electric violin in both jazz and rock music; he helped create and define jazz-rock fusion during his stint with John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra; and he left his mark on the world of rock ‘n’ roll with his tenure as a member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. As a solo artist, Ponty earned acclaim with a slew of eclectic late 1970s albums like Imaginary Voyage and Cosmic Messenger; while in the 1980s and ‘90s, Ponty broke new ground by incorporating synthesizers and other electronics with his violin to create an invigorating and unique sound.
Anderson Ponty Band’s Better Late Than Never
Given their past accomplishments, as well as a propensity for working well with others, it comes as no surprise that these two talents would join their creative mojos together and form the Anderson Ponty Band. Anderson and Ponty are backed by members of Ponty’s touring band, including guitarist Jamie Glaser (whose parts were dubbed in later…long story), bassist Baron Browne, keyboardist Wally Minko, and drummer Rayford Griffin – who, between them all, have experience playing with folks like Chick Corea, Billy Cobham, and Stanley Clarke as well as pop idols like Pink, Toni Braxton, and Michael Jackson.
Together, this is the group that created Better Late Than Never, recording a live performance at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, Colorado in September 2014. The fourteen-track, hour-long set is an invigorating mix of prog, pop, and fusion as the band revisits both songs from Anderson’s time with Yes and his solo career as well as tunes from Ponty’s vast back catalog. The brief instrumental intro that opens Better Late Than Never draws upon familiar musical themes from Yes, but the band jumps headfirst into “One In The Rhythms of Hope,” Anderson’s angelic vocals a fine match for Ponty’s otherworldly violin riffs. I particularly like Griffin’s subtle use of what sound like vibes at key moments in the arrangement.
Renaissance of the Sun
The band’s take on the Yes classic “Owner of A Lonely Heart” is generous with new flourishes, the band re-interpreting the song and providing it with just as much muscle as the original, but with Ponty’s buzzsaw violin providing a bit of rough grit to the performance. The shimmering, dancing “Listening With Me” provides a contrast to its predecessor, but the song is no less intense, Anderson’s impressive vocal gymnastics moving perfectly with the instrumentation’s fluid time changes. The exotic rhythm of the Yes deep cut “Time and A Word” is exaggerated and even funkier thanks to a flexible rhythm section and Ponty’s hypnotic violin notes.
“Infinite Mirage” is a breathtaking fusion of Anderson’s songwriting skills and Ponty’s instrumental talents. Anderson takes the Ponty song “Mirage” from his Enigmatic Ocean album and adds words, his silken vocals punctuated by Ponty’s high-flying performance. The free-flowing “Renaissance of the Sun” is a stunning example of the assembled band’s virtuosity, the song masterfully blending electrifying jazz-rock fusion with 1970s-era prog-rock Yes in the creation of a truly impressive performance. Ponty’s violin is threaded throughout, Minko’s mournful piano provides an emotional counterpoint, and Anderson’s vocals add light and texture. The Anderson Ponty Band’s reading of the classic rock radio staple “Roundabout” lacks Yes’s glorious harmonies and Rick Wakeman’s classically-manic keyboards, but otherwise the band acquits itself well and delivers an invigorating take on a familiar tune.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
The Anderson Ponty Band’s two-disc Better Late Than Never includes a ten-song concert DVD that features some of the best performances from the show, the band playing against a cool video backdrop with changing graphics. One minor cavil for what is otherwise an excellent collection of music – evidently Jamie Glaser’s fretwork was edited in using some high falutin’ production wizardry, replacing original guitarist Jamie Dunlap’s performance. You can watch the DVD and not only is Dunlap not introduced as part of the band, his appearance onstage is downplayed by the video editing.
The aforementioned complaint aside, as good as Glaser’s guitar playing is – overdubbed or not – the focus on Better Late Than Never is on Anderson’s soaring vocals and Ponty’s raging violin play. Both men definitely bring their best game to play on these performances, which serves to highlight the intrinsic talents of both. Anderson and Ponty have been talking about working together for 30 years. In this case, “better late than never” is an appropriate album title, the Anderson Ponty Band delivering a dynamic and entertaining live set that is one of the best things to happen to prog-rock in decades. Grade: A- (Liaison Music, released September 25, 2015)
Along with Return to Forever and Weather Report, guitarist John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra were one of the creators and innovators of what we rockcrit types called – back in the 1970s – “jazz-rock fusion,” the combining of the two genres providing musicians with both the artistic innovation of improvisational jazz and the exploding freedom of rock ‘n’ roll music.
British-born McLaughlin was a veteran of both England’s R&B scene and the tumultuous U.S. jazz world of the ‘60s, making his bones playing with trailblazers like Graham Bond and Brian Auger before moving to the states and playing with Tony Williams’ Lifetime and Miles Davis. Forming the Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1971, McLaughlin enlisted a group of below-the-radar jazz and rock talents, the band including violinist Jerry Goodman (from The Flock), keyboardist Jan Hammer (who would later play with Jeff Beck), bassist Rick Laird, and drummer Billy Cobham (whose 1973 album Spectrum is itself a classic of jazz-rock fusion).
It was this talented musical roster that recorded Mahavishnu’s classic sophomore album, Birds of Fire. Released in early 1973, it was sadly the final studio album by this group (a live album with the original band members, Between Nothingness & Eternity, was released in late ’73). The follow-up to the band’s 1971 debut, The Inner Mounting Flame, Mahavishnu’s sophomore effort incorporated the primal rock ‘n’ roll energy of its predecessor with an ambitious, more experimental jazz edge that found an unlikely but adventure-seeking audience. Birds of Fire would peak at #15 on the Billboard albums chart (a feat no other Mahavishnu album would repeat, although subsequent releases would graze the Top 40.)
On August 21st, 2015 Marshall Blonstein’s Audio Fidelity label will provide Birds of Fire the deluxe sonic treatment it deserves when the label releases the album as a limited-edition Hybrid 4.0 Quad SACD. Mastering for the stereo CD and SACD was done by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, while Gus Skinas oversaw the 4.0 analog to hi-def DSD digital transfer. Audio Fidelity’s Hybrid Super Audio CDs offer three layers on the same disc – a single layer of two-channel stereo sound, a dual layer SACD, and a 4.0 Quadraphonic Surround Sound layer; the Audio Fidelity Hybrid SACDs are compatible with all standard CD players. Provided this sonic upgrade, Birds of Fire promises to sound better than ever, the album a classic gem of jazz-rock fusion.
Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Birds of Fire tracklist:
1. Birds of Fire
2. Miles Beyond (dedicated to Miles Davis)
3. Celestial Terrestrial Commuters
4. Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love
5. Thousand Island Park
6. Hope
7. One Word
8. Sanctuary
9. Open Country Joy
10. Resolution
