BILLY COBHAM — Crosswinds (review)

Album · 1974 · Fusion

4/5 · 2024-10-11
FunkFreak75

Drummer Billy Cobham's sophomore effort as a bandleader.

1. "Spanish Moss - A Sound Portrait" : - a. "Spanish Moss" (4:11) human-generated wind sounds (synths and cymbals and gongs) open this one before the whole band jumps into a highway-driving cruise through New Jersey or the Taconic Parkway. Beautiful scenery A gorgeously-constructed song with subtle and heavily-nuanced performances from all of the performers--especially Billy, Lee Pastora, and keyboard artist George Duke. (9.25/10) - b. "Savannah The Serene" (5:14) some gentle drums and bass over which Randy Brecker solos in the first minute. I adore John Williams' sensitive bass play on this song. Also George Duke's expert and mature--and innovative--keyboard work. (9.75/10) - c. "Storm" (2:52) George Duke wind synth washes with Billy's heavily-flanged tom-tom and cymbal play taking over in the second half of the first minute. Interesting. Did Billy have fun with this? In the end, it must have been hard to feel satisfied. (4.375/5) - d. "Flash Flood" (5:08) how could this movement be from the same suite as the previous experimental piece? Musically, they have seemingly nothing to do with one another. At the same time, the polyphonic and polyrhythmic Latin rhythms and horns are wonderful. John Abercrombie's heavily-effected electric guitar solo in the third and fourth minutes is unfortunately contrasted with "real time" Fender Rhodes and, thereby almost lost. Too bad cuz it's a rather nice solo. (9/10)

2. "Pleasant Pheasant" (5:21) constructed over a funk bass line with clavinet and Fender Rhodes and straightforward drumming we get solos from Michael Brecker on sax and then Randy. It's a solid brass rock instrumental with great pace and energy but, unfortunately, it's just one of those songs that feel like they're a dime a dozen; nothing special here except for solid performances. In my opinion a 35-minute album should showcase new and exciting musical ideas not just high quality renditions of things that have already been done. (8.5/10)

3. "Heather" (8:40) very soft and mellow atmosphere, like something for late night radio, created by George Duke's sensitive Fender Rhodes play and John Williams' bass while Billy accompanies without drawing any attention to himself. Michael Brecker's sax gets the first solo--and a thing of beauty it is. Then George gets to tinkle the upper ivories of his Fender while Billy begins to show a little more life beneath--for a minute, but then everybody just kind of backs off--including the soloist! Again: It just feels kind of strange (and wasteful) to dedicate almost nine of your 35 minutes to a song of this minimal dynamic I mean, I get the textural nuance and maturity of restraint it takes to perform--and feel this kind of music, but when your reputation comes from being one of the most talented and dynamic drummers who ever held sticks, this seems a waste. (Kudos to Billy and George for having the courage to incorporate this one into their album--and to Columbia Records for sponsoring it!) (17.375/20)

4. "Crosswind" (3:42) Lee Pastora comes out on top with regards to who draws the most of my attention on this one. (Which is a backhanded way of saying, "What a waste!") (8.5/10)

Total time 35:08

I have to admit to being quite disappointed in having given this album so much of my attention today--this despite some fine work from innovative keyboard artist George Duke and rock solid performances from the Brecker Brothers. Billy gave up a lot of prestige to offer this to what I expect was his expectant fan base. After such a fine start with the wonderful Spanish Moss sound portrait, the rest just didn't live up to the same standard of dynamism.

B+/4,5 stars; an inconsistent album of jazz-rock fusion in which a ridiculously-average or overly-subtle Side Two failed to live up to the expectations set by the wonderful Side One suite.