Description
This is a review of Sony Legacy's Trio of Doom Live album. The album was recorded at the 1979 Havana Jazz Festival and features Miles Davis alumni, drummer Tony Williams and guitarist John McLaughlin. The album also features Weather Report bassist Jaco Pastorius. The album has previously unreleased selections, one through five, which are explosive live tracks but are mis-miked. Williams' "Drum Improvisation" segues into McLaughlin's fuzz-toned "Dark Prince," which does not swing in a silent way. Pastorious' theme song "Continuum" is scaled down to its essential twilight textures, while the drummer's "Para Oriente" is rendered here in a funky, pre-grunge mode. The guitarist's "Are You the One, Are You the One?" previews the jam band craze. The rest of the cuts were recorded a week later in a New York studio, but the warts-and-all original sides are unmatched for their primal power.
Recorded at the 1979 Havana Jazz Festival, this short and powerful set, with Miles Davis alumni, drummer Tony Williams and guitarist John McLaughlin, and Weather Report bassist Jaco Pastorius, was one for the ages. The previously unreleased selections, one through five, are explosive, but mis-miked live tracks. Williams' "Drum Improvisation" segues into McLaughlin's fuzz-toned "Dark Prince," which does not swing in a silent way. Pastorious' theme song "Continuum" is scaled down to its essential twilight textures, while the drummer's "Para Oriente" - which later became a stable in V.S.O.P's book, and was recast as "Angel Street" - is rendered here in a funky, pre-grunge mode. The guitarist's "Are You the One, Are You the One?" previews the jam band craze. The rest of the cuts were recorded a week later in a New York studio, But the warts-and-all original sides are unmatched for their primal power. --
Eugene Holley, Jr.