Newspaper Page Text
4C
n . a h.l d
Fusion's chi
Vertu, a new music collective
conceived by bassist Stanley
Clarke and drummer Lenny
White, released its much antici
pated self-titled debut on June 8
on Legacy/550 Music. The five
piece ensemble — which also in
cludes violinist Karen Briggs,
keyboardist Rachel Z and guitar
ist Richie Kotzen — has been
described by White as a band of
cumulative experience that has
forged the 21* century sound.
Precisely 30 years after White
played on Miles Davis’ seminal
Bitches Brew album, hehasjoined
forces with his one-time Return
ToForeverband mate, Clarke,in
another pivotal session that just
mayherald areturntothegolden
era of fusion.
“We'retryingtobringvirtuosic
playing back to the forefront in
music,”says White, whilenoting,
“I haven't had an opportunity to
play like this in a long time ...
whereeverybodyisreallystretch
ing out on their instruments and
playing up to their full potential.
And I'm convinced that thereisa
whole new audience out there
thatis hungry for thismusic, just
as people were 30 years ago.”
96,7 .
</
e
&% e .
b e '
L TR
L : :
b
e N
g Rt
|
.
'&y\ L
L e
‘ . ob“‘ ]
5 _ *}l
- h b
VERTU: (L-R) Rachel Z, Karen Briggs, Lenny White,
Stanley Clarke, and Richie Kotzen -
The brainchild of Sony/Epic
chairman David Glew, Vertu fi
nally became a reality after con
versations between Epic’s
Michael Caplan, a die-hard fu
sion aficionado, and Clarke. The
spark was then passed on to
White, who was extremely en
thusiastic about reuniting with
his former RTF rhythm section
mate. After getting suitably
pumped up by the possibility of
rekindling their own incandes
centfusionchemistry, Clarkeand
White cut a deal with Sony and
rounded out the band with fresh
JUNE 17, 1999
young talents like keyboardist
Rachel Z (whose credits include
touring and recording with Al Di
Meola, Wayne Shorter and Steps
Ahead), violinist Karen Briggs
(formerly with Yanni), and gui
tarist Richie Kotzen (who has
recorded several soloalbums and
is a former member of Poison).
The spirit that these five
virtuosic musicians convey on
their self-titled debut is fiercely
uncompromising while the mu
sic is a teeming with energy and
ideas as any of the early, ambi
tious offerings from fusion icons
96.9 The Touch
presents
Magic Mornings
Monday - Friday
6 a.m. - 10 a.m.
~ with '
Tom Joyner
&
Mechelle Jordan
AUGUSTA FOCUS
such asthe Mahavishnu Orches
tra, Return To Forever and
Weather Report.
“To be honest, I had hung my
hat up on that jazz-rock fusion
stuff,”’says Clarke. “Anyonewho
has listened to my last few al
bums know that they’re smooth
jazz albums, basically. That’s
where my thing went because
that’s what was available out
there tome. But both David and
Michael at Epic really got me
thinking about playing that way
again. And the thing I really
missed about thefusion stuffwas
the composing. You spend time
writing these kind of composi
tions, refining them and really
thinking about who you're writ
ing for as opposed to some of the
music that you hear on smooth
jazz radio today, which is like
musical chairs. Anybody can sit
in and play that stuff. It feels
nice, it sounds nice and that’s
pretty much it. But it’s boring.
“With Vertu, we have come up
with something that is definitely
morechallengingand ontheedge.
Everybody had to really dig in
and practice this material. It
wasn’t something that you could
just come into the studio and
play. We're all really pushing
and stretching on this record,
and I think that makes for excit
ing music.”
Kotzen, a modern day guitar
herowhocontinuesthe pyrotech
nic lineage of Jeff Beck and Al Di
Meola, digs in with toe-curling
abandon here, going toe-to-toe
with violinist Briggs in an ag-
gressive manner recalling John
McLaughlin’s heightened ex
changes with Jerry Goodman in
the heyday of the Mahavishnu
Orchestra. Briggs offers some
release from all the pent-up ten
“Anoch’e,” featuring Rachel Z on
grand piano and Stanley Clarke
contributing a lyrical bass solo.
Clarke’s two-part opus“Topasio”
shifts from hard-edged fusion
reminiscentofStanley’s“TheMa
gician” from RTF’s “Romantic
Warrior”touptemposwing paced
byhisown furiouslywalkingbass
and White’s insistent ride cym
bal pulse.
“We are in the last moments
before the new millennium and I
really believe that this music is
pointing a way to the future,”
says White. “There are those of
us whomade this music 25 years
ago and then for whatever rea
son went on to do other things,
and it was mainly for the reason
that the powers that be decided
to dry up the music and make it
something else. But we didn’t
stop writing this kind of music—
sense music, challenging music.
Now what we hope to have hap
pen is to have everybody say,
‘Heywecandothisagain, tohelp
bring about a return to virtuos
ity. And this album is our way of
staking our claim.”
“Backwhen Dizzy Gillespieand
Charlie Parker were inventing
bebop,” Clarkeadds, “therewasa
sensethat they were figuring the
See VERTU, page 12C
.
e
# -
3 3
o b ot
‘!
; .
e
- @
<
g ¢ < d
- .-