NIACIN — High Bias (review)

NIACIN — High Bias album cover Album · 1998 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
M.Neumann
This early album by the celebrated Fusion trio leans more to the jazzier side of the Jazz-Rock spectrum, and suffers a little for it. Later recordings would foreground the heavier elements of the band's distinctive instrumental attack, but here they clearly pulled too many of their punches.

A conservative production certainly doesn't help. The grindhouse grunge of John Novello's Hammond organ, normally the heart and soul of the Niacin sound, is diluted into a flavorless stew of generic digital synth textures, and the usually dynamic rhythm section is undermined by bass guitar virtuoso Billy Sheehan's uncharacteristically reserved performance: at no point on the entire album does he rip into one of the trademark pyrotechnic solos that would spark other Niacin efforts.

But let's be fair: the material here doesn't really demand any fireworks. Remember this is a band that likes to supplement their original music with an eclectic mix of occasional covers, but look at the selection this time around: instead of the heavy metal art rock of King Crimson's "Red" (a highlight of their 2004 "Time Crunch" album), there's a tasteful but unexciting version of the old Joe Zawinul/Weather Report standard "Birdland", not exactly an ideal vehicle for the sort of powerhouse interpretation these guys are capable of.

A silver lining can be found in the able support offered by several guest musicians, including three additional drummers substituting (why?) for band regular Dennis Chambers, plus percussionist Alex Acuña on the nervous Latino-tinged rhythms of "Montuno", one of the album's standout tracks (in part because of Novello's more aggressive touch on the acoustic piano). And the rich icing on an otherwise flavorless cake is an appearance by Return To Forever legend Chick Corea, adding some graceful Fender Rhodes filigrees to his own original composition, the 11+ minute "Hang Me Upside Down".

Bottom line: it may not be the band's strongest effort, but on the other hand the album showcases a more relaxed side of a power trio typically known more for their muscle.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Alberto Nemo, Claudio Milano (with borda), Niccolò Clemente : Frattura, Comparsa, Dissolvenza Jazz Related Improv/Composition
CLAUDIO MILANO (NICHELODEON)
Buy this album from MMA partners
Shapes of Silence (live) World Fusion
ALEPH QUINTET
Buy this album from MMA partners
Horizons Held Close Jazz Related Improv/Composition
TRANCE MAP (EVAN PARKER AND MATTHEW WRIGHT)
Buy this album from MMA partners
Puttin' On the Ritz Classic (1920s) Jazz
THE NEW WONDERS
Buy this album from MMA partners
異響同塵~Different echoes in the same dust~ Jazz Related Improv/Composition
TOSHI TSUCHITORI 土取利行
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Puttin' On The Ritz
THE NEW WONDERS
js· 11 hours ago
Wet Weather Wet
THE WRONG OBJECT
js· 1 day ago
Michael Kiwanuka - Lowdown (parts i and ii)
MICHAEL KIWANUKA
js· 1 day ago
Who Needs You (Billie Holiday-Jeanne Burns) by Ineza with Alex Webb & The Copasetics
INEZA (INEZA KERSCHKAMP)
js· 2 days ago
Notbad
PEELA
js· 2 days ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed