GINO VANNELLI — Storm at Sunup (review)

GINO VANNELLI — Storm at Sunup album cover

Album · 1975 · Pop/Art Song/Folk

4/5 · 2025-02-02
FunkFreak75

The Canadian brother-brother team of singer-songwriter Gino Vannelli and keyboard wizard Joe Vannelli let loose with their third studio album, this one broaching the popular and expression-expanding domain of Jazz-Rock Fusion and continuing their unusual and unorthodox championing of the use of keyboards alone in providing their songs' bass lines and horn sounds as they did on 1974's Powerful People (grâce à keyboard maestro, Richard Baker).

A1A. "Storm At Sunup" (6:37) one of the best jazz-rock fusion jam songs by non-jazz fusion artist ever made--and then it runs into the wonderfully seductive radio hit song "Love Me Now." Genius! (10/10)

A1B. "Love Me Now" (3:44) One of my favorite Gino Vannelli love songs, it has everything plus the unusual and effusive sexuality spilling over like a volcano. (9.5/10)

A3. "Mama Coco" (3:06) a very cool and unusual Latin funk love song--like something that should be coming out of Motown or Stax. (8.75/10)

A4. "Father And Son" (3:13) a bare-bones love-and-gratitude song. Not as jazzy, more classic crooning. (8.4/10)

B1. "Where Am I Going" (7:47) The song's weakness are the bare areas in which Joe's electric piano exists tout seul as well as its melody choices. It sounds like it's trying to do a reprise of the album's immaculate opener. The Vegas-like smoothed-out final two minutes of Latin grooving is the song's highpoint. (13.125/15)

B2. "Keep On Walking" (3:49) opening with Don Bailey's plaintive harmonica is a nice touch. The heart-wrenching Soul song that follows is simple yet made quite powerful by Gino's extraordinary vocal performance. (8.75/10)

B3. "Love Is A Night" (3:51) a little more funky R&B presented in which to try to ground Gino's ethereal vocal. The song's only failing is how similar it sounds to Side One's hit, "Love Me Now." (8.875/10)

B4. "Gettin' High" (3:25) talking drum and bass line open this one before Joe's Fender Rhodes and Gino's sexy story-telling voice join in to present another extraordinarily smooth and unique vocal performance. Jerome Richardson's saxophone in between Gino's verses is a nice touch, as is the infusion of Latin percussion early in the third minute. (8.875/10)

Total time: 35:31

Already clearly bridging the waters of pop music and jazz fusion since their debut Storm at Sunup definitely tests the J-R Fusion waters more than ever before--especially with the album-opening suite of "Storm at Sunup" and "Love Me Now." In my opinion the Joe and Gino team presents music history with one of the most advanced fusion arranger-composers in history--and it's not just Gino's unusually jazzy vocals but the amazingly full and sophisticated Latin-jazz and funk arrangements they give each and every song they produce. The percussion team of drummer Graham Lear, conga/bongo player Sergio Pastora, and general percussionist John L. Mandel are extraordinary in the way they're given so much freedom and light in which to shine.

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of jazz-infused, electronically-drenched, and percussion-rich songs over which exist the masterful vocal performances of one of music's all-time great voices.