The V.S.O.P. Quintet ‎– Tempest In The Colosseum (1977/2014)

1 	Eye Of The Hurricane 	15:54
2 	Diana 	4:26
3 	Eighty-One 	12:50
4 	Maiden Voyage 	11:48
5 	Lawra 	8:08
6	Red Clay 	13:37

Bass – Ron Carter
Drums – Tony Williams
Piano [Acoustic Piano] – Herbie Hancock
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Wayne Shorter
Trumpet – Freddie Hubbard

Only five days after The Quintet concerts in California, V.S.O.P. was caught live again on tape in Tokyo's Den-En Colosseum for another Japanese CBS/Sony release. "Tempest" is a good description, for this CD contains more volatile ensemble playing than its Columbia predecessor; clearly some tighter bonding took place since the trans-Pacific flight. The notion that Freddie Hubbard is filling in for Miles Davis in a reunion of his old quintet does not have much relevance, for Hubbard is always his own man, in command of his reverberant tone quality and idiosyncratic flurries that owe very little to Miles. Only "Lawra" is duplicated from The Quintet, and there is the additional treat of hearing Hubbard's masterpiece "Red Clay" performed to a turn by this crack quintet. ---Richard S. Ginell, AllMusic Review

This is a live recording by the legendary V.S.O.P Quintet which consisted of Herbie Hancock on piano, Wayne Shorter on Tenor & Soprano sax, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Ron Carter on upright bass & Tony Williams on drums.

This album was originally only released in Japan in 1977 because of the decrease in popularity of jazz in the US during that time. For these jazz masters this band was a return to playing all acoustic straight ahead jazz because each member was leading well known fusion groups that were much more plugged in if you will. Herbie had the Headhunters, Shorter had Weather Report, Freddie was having great success with the CTI label making funky bop infused jazz & Tony Williams had his high octane Lifetime band. So this music was a continuation of the music four of the five players made with Miles Davis in his 60s quintet which if I had to put a label on it I'd call it freebop.

If you're fans of the several other releases by this group then this set will be very familiar. The setlist contains compositions by each member of the quintet. The main difference between this album & say the self titled album V.S.O.P is the energy! On Tempest these guys are really going for it, just check out their version of Hubbards classic tune "Red Clay" which is taken a lot faster in tempo than the studio take as well as a lot more improvisation, especially from Ron Carter & Tony Williams who are in top form thru out the album. The rest of the tunes are just as good & classic fair for this group. They kick things off with the Hancock burner "Eye of the Hurricane" then play the standard "Diana" then a funky romp thru Carter's tune "Eighty One" originally recorded with Miles on his "E.S.P" album. Then they play another Hancock masterpiece "Maiden Voyage" then Tony Williams delivers the drum goods on "Lawra" & they close out with the incendiary "Red Clay".

So I'll close this review by saying if you're a fan of any of these players on their own & you like acoustic jazz that goes a little "out" but isn't completely Ornette Coleman free then you should pick this up. It's also pretty rare to find a copy on cd so it's got collector value as well. Get this now! ---Jonathan Guarriello, amazon.com

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