Home »
Jazz Articles » Album Review » Neil Sadler: Theory Of Forms
Neil Sadler: Theory Of Forms
This is my kind of delightfully frenetic, jazzish and fusiony art. Tis quirky, energetic, odd-metered, free-blowin' yet structured abandon. Sadler's seven compositions are whirlpools of beat, whole tonal scales, staccato attacks and explosions all geared for great improvs and dynamics. Ah, there is room for Keneally fusion riffs and Torn-like howling sustain. Walt, Steve, and Bruce Fowler bring in a definite Miles Davis / Mark Isham aura along with that Steve Coleman, David Binney, and Brecker feel in many places. I hear Lost Tribe echoes. That Zappaesque or Raymond Scott eclectica fills many a niche in these complex pieces. I caught a sense of early Larry Coryell and the Eleventh House on "Suehiro."
If you're into hot sax, brash brass, wild-n-weird guitar, bizarre synth atmospherics, complex percussion lines, and tight compositions, you'll get off on this. Guaranteed. This is beyond acid jazz, eludes fusion, twists tighter than freeform, and just flat out SMOKES!
You hear it said that Miles Davis'
Bitches Brew set a standard, started jazz fusion, and so forth. Well . . . Sadler's
Theory Of Forms would have made Miles Davis grin, then smile, and say, "Neil, you da man, this is the $#!* man. Yeah, this is the good stuff!" Neil Sadler: Theory Of Forms (CD, 55:43); Bleeding Arts BA 10012
Reprinted with the permission of John Collinge and
Progression Magazine .
Personnel
Album information
Title: Theory Of Forms
| Year Released: 1999
| Record Label: Bleeding ARTs
PREVIOUS / NEXT
Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.
Go Ad Free!
To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to
future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by
making a donation today.