BUSTER WILLIAMS — Pinnacle (review)

Album · 1975 · Fusion

4/5 · 2024-10-11
FunkFreak75

The double bass player from Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi team decides to go out on his own to produce some Mwandishi-like jazz-rock fusion.

A1 "The Hump" (11:26) a little too busy for my tastes--and the wind instruments are not so well recorded. As the song starts and slowly establishes its form and style (while the band leader solos on his Fender electric bass) I'm feeling as if I'm hearing the chords and melody of what will become Bob James' famous song, "Angela" (the theme song to the TV show, Taxi), but then when the full workup is accomplished the rest of the song sounds more like some of the playful funk jazz from Bill Cosby's Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids--on which Buster played, of course). Onaje Allan Gumbs creative and experimental "space synth" work sounds like something from the Star Trek television series soundtracks--and is the same that he will use on Lenny White's Venusian Summer. (17.66667/20)

A2 "Noble Ego" (6:52) an okay song with some excellent double bass exposition. The wordless group scat-chant vocals are a bit odd for their choice of syllables. Pianist Gumbs has obviously studied at the Chick Corea school of piano and keyboard play because his piano play as both accompanist and soloist mirror that of the Spanish Lepruchaun (even his spacey synth injections are similar to Chick's!) But the real star here is the master bass player. (13.33333/15)

A3 "Pinnacle" (4:41) Onaje Allan Gumbs' Fender Rhodes play is so rich and welcome. The electric bass and more-rock-formatted drums give this a true J-R Fusion feel. The choral chant vocals are fun in a spiritual way. The first half offers Billy Hart's exciting drum play, then the melodic keys and sax and Freddie Hubbard-like trumpet play steal the show. (8.875/10)

B1 "Tayamisha" (6:29) classic modal jazz between Buster and Billy (with some help from Guilherme Franco's percussion work) start this one out before the rest of the band join in. Onaje Allan Gumbs' piano, Earl Turbinton's soprano sax, and Buster's double bass take the traditional solo spots. Very nice jazz but not really much of a fusion with rock. (8.875/10)

B2 "Batuki" (14:10) the jewel of the album, it opens, of course, with some of Buster's dynamic and inventive double bass play, at the 45-second mark the rest of the band joins in to help Buster create a finely harmonized wave of gentle, melodic jazz. Sax, flutes, keys, and drums do an awesome job of establishing the song's Stevie Wonder-like weave before trumpeter Woody Shaw is given the first solo in the fourth minute. There is a double-timing of some of the instrumentation at the start of the fifth minute just as saxophonist Earl Turbinton is given his solo, but then everything slows way down and thins out for Buster's next solo in the sixth and seventh minutes--a solo that nears the EBERHARD WEBER sound standard that I love so much, supported by Onaje Allan Gumbs' dreamy flange-panned Fender Rhodes. It isn't until well into the tenth minute that Buster relinquishes the lead to allow Allan a chance to shine (wonderfully supported by both Billy Hart and Buster). In the end this is a great sounding song that only disappoints in its lack of sustained memorable melodies over the course of its 14-minutes. (27.5/30)

I don't know where Buster and the gang found this percussionist, Guillerme Franco (he'd previously worked with McCoy Tyner, Lonnie Liston Smith and Keith Jarrett), but I love his mischievous injections of odd and singular percussion instruments throughout--as well as his use of the Flexitone--the signatory open sound to Ronnie Laws' mega hit, "Always There."

Buster Williams is without a doubt a virtuoso of the double bass; it is sad how little mention or credit he is given for his contributions to so many great jazz and jazz-rock fusion albums--especially the six Mwandishi lineup albums of 1972-4.

B+/four stars; an excellent representative of the jazz-side of prog's "Classic Era" of Jazz-Rock Fusion.