Tony (Tony Williams) (LP 3397 - 3399)

Jan Hammer  The Early Years (Vinyl, Nemperor Records, 1986) ***

Tony Williams  The Joy Of Flying (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1979) ****

Jean-Luc Ponty  Imaginary Voyage (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1976) *****

Genre: Jazz fusion, prog rock

Places I remember: Wax Trax Records (Denver, Colorado); Secondhand tool shop (also Denver)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The Gardens Of Babylon (Imaginary Voyage)

Gear costume: Open Fire (The Joy Of Flying)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: While on our Californian saga and the wedding trip to Denver, I inevitably managed to visit a number of record stores. The next few posts will feature my purchases. There were some real bargains, and some albums I've been after for a while. 

I'll start with these three jazz fusion albums. 

My eyes lit up when I spied the Jan Hammer compilation on Nemperor Records in Wax Trax Records. The First Seven Days is featured mostly (4 tracks), then Little Children (2 tracks). I already have both of those albums. The remainder is a track apiece from two albums I don't have (yet) - Oh Yeah! and Melodies.

Tony Williams has also featured in my catalogue so far and The Joy Of Flying features Jan Hammer on a number of tracks.

Apart from the free jazz skronk of final track Morgan's Motion (with Cecil Taylor), the bulk of the album is brilliant jazz fusion. Tony doesn't ever showboat, instead he is a great team player. Apart from Jan and Tony, other stellar musicians appearing are Brian Auger, George Benson, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke and Ronnie Montrose on guitar.

I was thrilled to find the Ponty album for $3 from a secondhand tool shop in Denver. It was a bit dusty but after a clean it looks and sounds excellent.

The music is terrific, with a side-long title track just skipping past with Ponty and his sidekicks (including Tom Fowler on bass) in complete command.

Where do they all belong? Next up are the A to O albums.

Snake oil (Tony Williams) (LP 2677)

The New Tony Williams Lifetime  Believe It (Vinyl, Columbia Records, 1975) ****  

Genre: Jazz fusion 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Red Alert

Gear costume: Fred

Active compensatory factors: I've been looking for records by jazz fusion drummer Tony Williams for a while but then I read an interview with him in Jenny Boyd's book and the hunt intensified. He's a very articulate guy!

He's joined in this version of his Lifetime band by Allan Holdsworth on guitar, Alan Pasqua on keyboards and Tony Newton on bass.

They can play it intense (Mr Spock) or loose (Fred) and everywhere in between. The interplay between all four is the real feature of the album.

Where do they all belong? Yes, on the lookout for more!