Search - Bob Berg :: Back Roads

Back roads is frontline fusion

Robert Heuvel | 10/30/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Tenor virtuoso Bob Berg teams up with (a.o) Dennis Chambers and Mike Stern to create an album with a combination of heavy fusion and jazz ballads. The album was a 1991 Grammy Nominee and in this case, that really was for a good reason. Bob Berg shows the duality which modern jazz saxophone players strive to achieve: being able to play funkfusion as well as jazz. Bob Berg does both exceptionally well.

The track "Nighthawks" is the masterpiece of this album. Dennis Chambers playing polyritmic 6/8 and 7/8 which make you feel like you are in dark Afrika. Bob Berg replys with staccato groovy melody.

All those who think fusion was at it's peak in the 70's with Weather Report and Miles Davis are shown wrong by the tenorgiant Berg.

Although the 70's brought many good compositions (Jaco Pastorius, Chick Corea), they sounded awfull on the records themselves. This was mainly caused by the use of primitive synthesizers. In contrast, Back Roads sounds almost too good. Typically of the 80's and early 90's, the record is overproduced:every sound on the record has an echo. Fortunately, the quality of the music itself is so high that this does not become irritating. With Back Roads modern fusion reaches it's epitomy. After this Bob Berg as well as Michael Brecker returned to the jazz standards."