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 .