JOHN LEE AND GERRY BROWN — Mango Sunrise (review)

JOHN LEE AND GERRY BROWN — Mango Sunrise album cover

Album · 1975 · Fusion

5/5 · 2024-10-19
FunkFreak75

European bound (The Netherlands) American ex-pats John Lee and Gerry Brown have assembled a band consisting of perhaps the very crème de la crème of Dutch musicianship--including guitar virtuosi Philip Catherine and Eef Albers and keyboardists Jasper Van't Hof and Rob Franken and even entice a couple of other seasoned American standouts in Mike Mandel and Eric Tagg to participate on a couple of songs.

A1. "Mango Sunrise" (5:17) incredible performances by all of the band members--with amazing cohesion and great melodic hooks and riffs. (9.25/10)

A2. "Breakfast of Champions" (4:03) powerful and well-performed--especially by the lead guitarist(s)--but the main theme, repeated ad nauseum, is too dull and distance-causing. (8.75/10)

A3. "Keep It Real" (5:21) acoustic guitars with electric bass and gentle drum play (mostly cymbals) opens this like the potential-energy-filled opening of LED ZEPPELIN's "Heartbreaker." Rob Franken's synth solo is the leader for the first 90 seconds but then there is a stop and resent as the band switches into a slowed-down recapitulation of the chorus theme of the same song while Eef and Philip show off their incredible skills. Gerry really fills it up as the Al Di Meola- like power choruses bridge the verse sections. Man! Are these musicians incredible! The final minute sees the band turning back to the same motif as the opening: acoustic guitars with synthesizer creating the melody over the top. (9/10)

A4. "Ethereal Cereal" (3:40) a nod to Stanley Clarke? or Larry Coryell? or The Allman Brothers? or Jean-Luc Ponty? or Ernie Isley? The speed limits are all blown away on this one as every musician in the weave is in overdrive. Wow! Did I say "wow!" yet? If only it had a little more variety in melody and dynamics. (9/10)

B1. "The Stop and Go" (3:12) another very tight, very impressive whole-band display of sophisticated complexity and virtuosity that somehow lacks enough variation and melodic hook to remain memorable. Dripping in the super funk of the time--the stuff that Herbie, Larry Young, Parliament, and Lenny White were championing. (8.875/10)

B2. "Her Celestial Body" (5:10) a slowed down, stripped-down sound palette that has great, haunting melodies and awesome bass, drumming, and keyboard performances. (9.125/10)

B3. "Pickin' the Bone" (4:00) another song with Al Di-era RTF-inspired choruses bridging some fairly smooth BOB JAMES-like Fender Rhodes-led verses. (8.875/10)

B4. "Magnum Opus" (5:09) to the races straight out of the gate with John hitting Percy Jones-level note speed, matched by Gerry's precise yet-nuanced drumming and some awesome rhtym guitar work. The ensuing electric guitar solos are out of this world with their speed, dexterity, and melodic sensibilities. If you told me that John, Gerry and company were inspired by Lenny White's "Mating Drive" for this song I would not be at all surprised. Lenny, Dougie Rauch, Ray Gomez, and Doug Rodrigues would all be clapping enthusiastically in their congratulatory approbation. (9.5/10)

B5. "Haida" (2:53) kind of an excerpt from a jam that, while impressive, really goes nowhere. (8.75/10)

Total time: 38:05

Unlike any other bands or musicians outside of the "Bitches Brew" circle of progenitors, John Lee and Gerry Brown get it: They understand fully and completely that which Jazz-Rock Fusion is all about; they unleash music that is fully in line with the fullest potential of the Jazz-Rock Fusion medium as defined by the likes of Herbie Hancock with his Headhunters, John McLaughlin with the second incarnation of his Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola, and Lenny White with their Return To Forever and initial solo projects.

My one complaint with the albums on which Eef Albers and Philip Catherine team up is that I do not know which guitarist's style is which: they are both so fluid, so melodically-gifted, and both use similar sounds to project their guitar playing that I never feel certain which one is soloing at any given time.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of breath-taking whole-group performances from a band of total virtuosi. It could've been better (more melodic, more memorable hooks and transitions) but the playing is so off the charts amazing that I cannot deny this as an absolutely essential representation of peak Third Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion.