Frank Gambale / Stuart Hamm / Steve Smith GHS3 CD

Stop the insanity! On second thought, if you're a grizzled Return to Forever and Mahavishnu Orchestra fan who remembers when fusion was fun, don't. Just listen and get wild with these three monsters who keep the tradition banging into the new millennium. Unlike some of these projects which seem designed only for those who like loud, in-your-face, crazy guitar crunching, there are some notable cooling elements that invite the less-intense fan into the festive tribal experience. Gambale's electric crackling on "All in Your Head" leads off and has listeners thinking "crazy jam for fusion headbangers," and "The Great Roberto" features this same guitar approach filtered sonically to be more brooding in spots than intense. But Gambale is an acoustic master as well, and lighter fingerpicking bouncers like "Confuse-a-Blues" and thoughtful ballads like "Saving Grace" go down easier. Smith is a world-class drum and percussion god, and his solo showcase "Culture Clash" finds him playing Indian rhythms on the kit and then doubling them (via overdubbing) on the djembe drum. Even though this type of free-for-all project isn't for everybody, it's a refreshing flip of the bird to the clenched fists, pigeonhole, happy, modern industry where middle of the road translates to big dollars. ~ Jonathan Widran

/Stuart Hamm/Steve Smith.

Live Recording

Recorded at Neverland Studio, Marin County, California in January 2002. Includes liner notes by Bill Milkowski.

Personnel: Frank Gambale (acoustic & electric guitars); Stuart Hamm (electric bass, bass); Steve Smith (drums, shaker, djembe, finger cymbals).

Personnel: Frank Gambale (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Steve Smith (drums, finger cymbals, djembe, shaker).

Audio Mixer: Robert Biles.

Liner Note Author: Bill Milkowski.

Recording information: Neverland Studio, Marin County, CA (01/2002).

Photographer: Steve Jennings.

Arrangers: Frank Gambale; Steve Smith ; Stuart Hamm.JazzTimes (4/03, p.106) - "...These three outstanding musicians combine furious energy and chops galore with complex compositions to create a series of muscular, gleefully pyrotechnical performances..."