Andy Summers: The Last Dance of Mr X.
Summers puts his "Soul-O" amp to good use in the original tracks "Big Thing," "Strange Earth," "Mr. X," "Rumplestiltskin" and "The Somnambulist." However, through the predominance of covers of tunes such as Horace Silver's cleanly swaying "Lonely Woman," the spritely swing of "Monk's We See," the samba tinge of Wayne Shorter's "Footprints" and an easy-going take on Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," Mr. X demonstrates a solid grasp not only of jazz (albeit 'smooth jazz'), but also of a number of other streams as well. This is especially evident on the title track, which repeatedly rolls in like an ambient Latin tide, then flashes sharply and smoothly to such diverse styles as polka and surf (Mr. X must be quite a dancer indeed!), in addition to a sampling of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love." Whether Summers was underappreciated in the '80's remains to be seen, but his solo work definitely deserves attention!
Track Listing
1. Big Thing 2. Three Marias 3. Strange Earth 4. Afro Blue 5. Last Dance of Mr. X 6. Lonely Woman 7. We See 8. Rumpelstiltskin 9. Somnabulist 10. Footprints 11. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
Personnel
Andy Summers: guitar.
Album information
Title: The Last Dance of Mr X. | Year Released: 2003 | Record Label: BMG