Search - Alphonso Johnson :: Collection

Mixed bag from former Weather Report bassist

Gavin Wilson | 10/12/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Al Johnson's principal claim to fame is his contribution to three Weather Report albums: MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER, TALE SPINNIN' and BLACK MARKET. The band was going through its supreme period of magnificence, and each of those records is in a different league to this. If you don't already have those three CDs, stop reading this review now, and go out and order them today.The Alphonso Johnson Collection is for those listeners who are completing their CD collection and simply mopping up the last remaining artists whose output has only recently made it to CD. In the 1970s there was a market for this sort of stuff. The mainstream jazz-rock bands (Return to Forever, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orch and Eleventh House) could only produce one LP a year, and the fans had plenty of spare dollars to spend on solo albums by current or former band members. Nowadays this is all back-catalogue stuff, and the CD buyer is no more living in the present by buying a Weather Report album from 1975 as he/she is by buying a Miles Davis album from 1959. With thousands of CDs to choose from, this CD will rank pretty low down the list of most back-catalogue buyers.I was a great fan of Johnson's in the 70s. Clearly more funky than Miroslav Vitous, he also seemed to have less of an ego problem than the late Jaco Pastorius. I liked the guy's apparent modesty. The sleevenotes to this CD are informatively biographical, but not particuarly helpful in identifying where each track came form and who played on it. It looks like he recorded three solo albums: MOONSHADOWS, YESTERDAY's DREAMS and SPELLBOUND. I still have two of the three on LP, so can provide a little more info on the tracks here:'Bahama Mama' and 'Face Blaster' come from SPELLBOUND, whose line-up was Johnson, David Igelfield on drums, Clyde Criner on keyboards and Kevin Shrieve and Pat Thrall on guitars, recorded Jul-Aug 77. 'Scapegoat', 'As Little as You', 'Flight to Hampstead Heath' and 'One to One' come from YESTERDAY's DREAMS. The line-ups are a mixture of Johnson (bass), Grover Washington (tenor sax), Lee Ritenour (guitar), Sheila Escovedo (percussion), Mike Clark (drums), ex-Mother Ian Underwood (synthesizers), Ernie Watts (tenor sax), Gary Grant (flugelhorn & trumpet), George Bohanon and Garnett Brown (trombone), Ernie Fields (baritone sax and flutes), Patrice Rushen (keyboards), Ray Gomez (guitars), Chester Thompson (drums), Ruth Underwood (percussion), Chuck Findley (trumpet).It's strange that this compilation should come out of the UK, as two of the solo albums were never released here and only available on import. CBS only realised that Johnson had a fan base in the UK just before the release of SPELLBOUND, which was clearly his weakest LP.In the end what let's Johnson's LPs down is the weakness of his compositions. The playing is superb, but the material often doesn't match it. He wrote some catchy hooks and riffs, but rarely seemed able to write a convincing song around them. 'Bahama Mama' is a typical example of a long and slightly ponderous build-up to an attractive jingle at the heart of the track. The track was substantially modified and improved when tom Scott's sax substituted for guitar on 'AliveMutherForYa' which is still untransferred to CD.My main regret is that this compilation doesn't feature any of Al's singing -- e.g. on 'Love's the Way I feel Bout Cha' -- which was wonderful."

Good mid 70's jazz-rock-funk

Citibank | 06/28/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great example of fusion from the mid 70's- heavy on the rock and funk with splashes of latin. This guy actually wrote songs and not just jams avoiding the wankery that fusion from this period sometimes had. This guy is truly funky."

For all you fusion hits!!!

B. Bernardini | San Antonio, Texas United States | 12/19/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This bass player used to play with the now de-funked
Jazz fusion band Weather Report. This was before bass
ace Jaco Pastorius came into the "picture" with their hit
CD "Heavy Weather". Alphonso Johnson did a lot playing brazilian
artists such as Airto and Flora Purim. With these amazing collection of tunes,he teams up with greats like George Duke,doing classic
fusion Jazz,like "Thine own self be true" ,with funk like "Bahama
Mamma" This is a great collectors piece,check it out!!!!"