GREAZY DOES IT!
"Greazy" is the brand new album from Stick maestro Jim Lampi. For this, his third release, Jim has assembled an impressive array of guest musicians, including no less a personage than John Martyn. As a result the music is more richly-textured in comparison with the pared-down elegance of "TV Weather" and "Young Lions". Nevertheless the Lampi Stickmanship dominates the proceedings throughout and those of you familiar with the previous albums will find nothing to either surprise or disappoint on this disc.
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Jim's technical mastery of the instrument is unquestionable, and here he plays with an understated virtuosity, eschewing flashy pyrotechnics in favour of a subtle interplay between bass, rhythm and melody, performed with an easy nonchalance which belies its complexity.
Opening track "Surf and Turf" sets the mood for the album, with a groove of mellow funkiness akin to the jazz-funk of Weather Report/Brecker Brothers et al, the similarity heightened by Jim's sax and wind synth lines, topped off with the wordless vocalisations of Marie Claire Dubaldo. (Despite the presence of two guest vocalists, and Jim himself, this is largely an instrumental album, the only "song" as such being the
Track 2 "Coyote" continues in a mellow vein, with scatting vocals and the vintage Hammond tones of Spencer Cozens recalling the music to an early 70s caper movie, probably featuring Peter Ustinov, a Mediterranean location and several women in bikinis.
"Peggy" is altogether stranger - Jim, Spencer Cozens and drummer Arrun Amun seemingly improvising freely around a bass riff which is a mutant offspring of "I Wish", and John Martyn supplying "stream of consciousness" in a bluesy growl.
"Bacon" has a lazy swing
"Sympatico" has a more vintage Lampi feel, the instrumentation being limited to Stick and percussion courtesy of Chris Wells - likewise track 9 "Jack's". An insistent bass line underpins a melody performed as a trio between Jim's Stick and the voices of Jim and Marie Claire Dubaldo.
"Ernest" is a pleasant Latin groove, while "Old Ivory" with piano featured prominently is reminiscent of Keith Jarret at his most accessible, perhaps circa "Belonging". "Jack's" is followed by the moodily atmospheric "Vanishing Point
If there is a criticism to be made of this disc, it is that it is a little one-paced, dominated by mid-tempo pieces, interspersed with slower numbers. I would have liked to heard some livelier or more "edgy" material mixed in. Nevertheless this is an extremely accomplished and very listenable disc, and a worthy addition to the Lampi catalogue.
Myron Edwards