thanks to runo and other friends


Blissful, transcendent jazz, November 13, 2003
Reviewer: J. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA)
Not having heard the (apparently) inferior sound of the original recording, I'm struggling to imagine its problems. You see, the sound on this SACD hybrid is nothing short of ravishing, save, perhaps, for a slight thinness that occasionally crops up in relation to Corea's piano which, oddly, seems to lack the brilliance and sonority of the very best instruments. The sound image, apart from that small annoyance, is simply stunning for the rest of the instruments, especially Roy Haynes's drums, which snap, snarl, and bubble with consummate authority. Complaints about Metheny being underrecorded on the original disc, or there being a general lack of clarity, simply do not appertain.
As far as the the performances, this disc finds the players completely engaged and in finest conversational fettle. Whatever is called for--fleetness, emotion, group interaction--each member delivers, seemingly offhandedly, gracing the proceedings with a aura of musical authority that cannot be gainsaid. Indeed, the sheer fluidity, the ease of execution, belies jazz enacted at the very highest level of expression.
This transcendent disc has scarcely left my player since I recently acquired it. I'm convinced it represents a high point in the careers of all the players. Highest recommendation.