Scott Henderson / Jeff Berlin / Dennis Chambers: HBC (2012)

Glenn Astarita

Senior Contributor since 1997

Longtime contributor to AAJ and Downbeat, Jazz Review, EjazzNews, Radio DirectX.

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Published: December 23, 2012

Scott Henderson / Jeff Berlin / Dennis Chambers: HBC

Not simply a super-group, but more like a jazz-fusion superpower as this formidable trio melds classic fusion works amid a few originals on its debut release, although the artists have crossed paths over the years. Bios and resumes would transcend the limitations of a review or analysis. So, it's the in-your-face attitude, creative impetus, and the respective musicians' gargantuan chops that account for a passionate exposition.

Guitarist Scott Henderson's enviable technique as a monumental blues-rock soloist shines on his "Wayward Son of Devil Boy," inflicting pain on his axe via some serious shedding and molding a blues-with-a-vengeance stance with blazing fills, detuned extended notes and wailing choruses. But the preponderance of the album offers an abundance of cunning insights and spins on pieces such as drummer Billy Cobham Billy Cobham
b.1944
drums 's jazz-fusion anthem "Stratus." Then again it would be a sacrilege to ignore this trend-setting classic. Here, all-universe session drummer Dennis Chambers Dennis Chambers
b.1959
drums slams the backbeat into overdrive in concert with bass great Jeff Berlin Jeff Berlin
b.1953
bass 's sinuous fretless bass lines. Owing to the original recording, Henderson abides by late guitarist Tommy Bolin Tommy Bolin
's tension and release buildup, and then goes off the radar with stratospheric licks, leading to the heavy metal-like finale.

Henderson morphs polytonal chord voicings to execute a translation of pianist Herbie Hancock Herbie Hancock
b.1940
piano 's funkified "Actual Proof," where Berlin unleashes a mindboggling solo, awash with twirling notes and breakneck linear runs. Henderson injects some spacey electronic treatments and spatial attributes into saxophonist Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter
b.1933
saxophone 's title track from Weather Report Weather Report

band/orchestra 's Mysterious Traveler (Columbia, 1974), raising the bar with edgy and distorted crunch chords while reshaping and reconfiguring the primary theme, tinted with a rather ominous rite of passage.

HBC also integrates a pure jazz element into Shorter's "Sightseeing," offset by the artists' expressive solo spots and streaming background effects, all the while prepping for the kill towards the coda as Berlin thumps and plucks his bass strings into submission. Sure, he's all over the place, but lessons learned will dictate that he makes every note count, marked by his lyrical thematic statements and a technique to die for.

Other than the instrumentalists' technical mastery, these works' construction lend to a refreshing glimpse of the proverbial roads previously traveled. From a holistic perspective of the jazz-fusion genre, it doesn't get a whole lot better.

Track Listing: Actual Proof; Mysterious Traveller; Footprints; D Flat Waltz; The Orphan; Sightseeing; Wayward Son of Devil Boy; Threedom; Stratus.

Personnel: Scott Henderson: guitar; Jeff Berlin: bass; Dennis Chambers: drums.

Record Label: Tone Center