Tal Farlow - All Strings Attached (1987)
Tal Farlow - All Strings Attached (1987)
1 Intro - Misty 6:41 2 Meditation 8:34 3 Autumn Leaves 14:34 4 My Romance 6:33 5 All Blues 19:20 Bass – John Patitucci Drums – Billy Hart Guitar – John Abercrombie, John Scofield, Larry Carlton, Larry Coryell, Tal Farlow
This mid-'80s concert is unusual in that it mixes five guitarists from diverse backgrounds onto the same stage. Tal Farlow, a bop master is the senior player, with post-bopper John Abercrombie, Larry Carlton (fusion), plus Larry Coryell and John Scofield (who straddle both post-bop and fusion), bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Billy Hart. Although such a collection of musicians has the potential to cause a train wreck, the musicians share the spotlight generously, complementing one another's solos brilliantly throughout a set mixing standards and classic jazz compositions plus a bossa nova. Best are the extended workouts of "Autumn Leaves" and "All Blues." The major bones to pick with this release include its unimaginative packaging and the lack of liner notes, as only seasoned jazz listeners will be able to identify each guitarist in turn. This release was only available for a relatively short time before being dropped from the Verve catalog. ---Editorial Reviews, amazon.com
Whatever the technical glitches and promotional fiascos that accompanied the poorly attended 1986 Jazzvisions concerts in Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre, we are certainly indebted to the organizers for putting together this tremendous five-way guitar summit meeting, available on CD, LP, cassette, laserdisc and VHS video. If you can imagine such a thing -- and the proof is on the video -- the lineup consists of four rock-influenced guitar slingers (John Abercrombie, Larry Carlton, Larry Coryell and John Scofield) surrounding a mellow jazz veteran of the previous generation (Tal Farlow). The problem with the audio versions is that it is often difficult to definitively tell who is playing, for the skimpy four-page leaflet is no help at all in sorting out the guitarists. Still, one can hear some pretty formidable playing throughout the concert, as the fivesome take turns jamming and supporting each other on a trio of standards ("Autumn Leaves," "Misty," "My Romance"), a jazz classic ("All Blues" with a spooky intro), and the obligatory bossa nova ("Meditation"), securely accompanied by John Patitucci (bass) and Billy Hart (drums). The "winner?" Some might find it hard to accept, but the tastiest guitarist at the gig -- as well as the one who is least intimidated by Farlow -- is Carlton, whose commercial records sometimes obscure the fact that he can be an irresistibly inspired musician. ---Richard S. Ginell, AllMusic Review
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