| | Bill Connors Assembler CD Bill Connors Discography of CDs
 (3 Customer Reviews)
 |
|
Our Price: $11.19  CDFor Sale Usually ships in 1-2 days
(Only 1 available)
|  |
Jazz fusion guitar fans will recognize Connors as that blazingly explosive and technically precise legato guitarist in Return to Forever who left after one release to pursue a quieter acoustic guitar path. Connors has always been ranked in the upper echelons of fine fusion axe-men. Yet the guitar releases from Connors have come slowly, been severely under-appreciated, and after this release -- it seems no more solo works are ever forthcoming. Let's hope I am wrong.
After leaving Return to Forever, Connors released three excellent acoustic albums in the '70s, did some work with Stanley Clarke on Clarke's solo releases, and played with the Jan Garbarek Group. Connors then returned to releasing hard-hitting yet elegantly soulful electric fusion guitar albums in the '80s. They were shorter length, LP time-length format, offering sonic snippets of Connors' electric visions.
Comparisons can be made easily between this release's guitar stylings to that of Allan Holdsworth's technique. This is not surprising as Holdsworth has always sought that horn sound and flow of John Coltrane and Connors too idolizes Coltrane. Convergent evolution perhaps? Connors has more of a rocking and visceral edgy attack than Holdsworth. His legato phrasing is totally different as well as his guitar voicings. Connors will also lean funky, syncopated, and have more of a groove going on in his compositions. Connors demonstrates he is a guitarists' guitarist with evident passion for his instrument. In conversation with Connors' brother I was told that Bill was always practicing for hours upon hours. It shows clearly on this release.
Assembler marked the final electrified release of this triune fusion CD offering of the '80s. Assembler saw an initial 1987 release and then this 1994 re-release on the Evidence label. ~ John W. Patterson
Recorded at R.P.M. Studios, New York, New York in June 1987. Includes liner notes by Bill Milkowski.
Reissue producer: Jerry Gordon.
Personnel: Bill Connors (guitar); Tom Kennedy (electric bass); Kim Plainfield (drums).
Liner Note Author: Bill Milkowski.
Recording information: RPM Sound Studios, New York, NY (06/1987).
Photographer: Mark Babushkin.
Personnel: Bill Connors (electric guitar); Tom Kennedy (electric bass); Kim Plainfield (drums).
Producer: Bill Connors.
Bill Connors Assembler Songs Assembler Music Review Average Rating: (4.3 out of 5 stars)   Excellent Fusion Release.
"Riveting", "Visceral". Excellent, creative, versatile, diverse stuff from ex Return to Forever guitarist Bill Connors. Kinda like a Grittier Allan Holdsworth might be a good way to describe Connors. Classic Fusion Album by a largely overlooked and highly underrated guitarist.
Submitted by jmreisch (Long Island, NY, USA) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
 UNDERRATED
I'VE HAD THIS ALBUM FOR A LONG TIME,A GUITAR CLASSIC ,IN THE AND BILL CONNORS HAS BEEN ONE OF MY FAVOURITE GUITAR PLAYER -ALONG WITH ALAN HOLDSWORTH AND SCOTT HENDERSON- EVER SINCE I HAVE SEEN HIM WITH RETURN TO FOREVER IN THE EARLY SEVENTIES.I WAS BLOWN AWAY BY HIS SOUND AND HIS PLAYING.HOWEVER WHAT MOTIVATED ME TO SEND THIS REWIEW IS THE FACT THAT KIM PLAINFIELD MUST BE THE MOST UNDERRATED DRUMMER ON THE PLANET,HE IS A MASTER.SO BUY THIS ALBUM AND ANYTHING ELSE BILL CONNORS HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH,YOU' LL HAVE THE VERY BEST.
Submitted by DOMINIQUE POUCHOL (VICHY,FRANCE)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
Maybe the best of the bunch?
As other reviewers have stated, you really can't go wrong with any Bill Connors album. It's kind of a mystery to me as to why he is so underrecorded (something John Scofield might want to look into). In any event, Assembler, IMO, is a bit tighter than the other recordings--I'm purposefully avioding saying this is head and sholders above the others, because they are really all good power trio (mostly trio, anyway) discs.
Sure seems to me that the new Tone Center disc will be a no risk investment. Nice to have something to look forward to in these jazzless times we live in (okay, there is SOME good new recording worth our time and money, but it's no accident that the reissue movement is in full effect). Hey Bill, please, don't do a 20 years between recordings thing--maybe YOU could learn a little something from Sco regarding prolifics!
Submitted by Fred - Herpfauna (Elkins Park, PA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No | Have you heard this album? |  |
Purchase Assembler CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Bill Connors Step It! CD (1985)
Assembler album
 $9.19 
| | Bill Connors Double-Up CD (1986)
Assembler CD music
$10.39
| | Tribal Tech Reality Check CD (1994)
Assembler music CDs
$9.09 
| | Jean-Luc Ponty Enigmatic Ocean CD (1977)
Assembler songs
$8.39  
| | Bill Connors Return CD (2005)
Assembler album
$13.89
| | MC5 Back In The U.S.A. CD (1970)
Assembler CD music
$9.09
Since it was impossible to top the in-concert exuberance of their debut, KICK OUT THE JAMS, the MC5 re-emerged with a more refined sound for their sophomore effort, 1970's BACK IN THE U.S.A., their first studio record. The music is comparable to other Detroit proto-punk rockers of the ...
| | Lee Wiley Night In Manhattan/Sings Vincent Youmans/Sings Irving Berlin CD (2001)
Assembler music CDs
$13.79
Although it took nearly half a century, vocalist Lee Wiley's most prolific and oft-requested post-World War II recordings have been compiled and reissued in their entirety. This single CD gathers Wiley's trio of 10" EPs cut for Columbia in the early '50s -- including the universally acclaimed Night in Manhattan (1951) as well as Sings Vincent Youmans (1951) and Sings Irving Berlin (1951). When these titles were first issued, Wiley had already experienced significant success as a traditional pop and torch vocalist during the '30s -- supported by, among others, the Dorseys, Johnny Green, and the Casa Loma Orchestra. Although all three of these titles could rightly be considered as concept or thematic collections, it was Night in Manhattan that truly captured the varied moods and sounds of New York City after hours. Wiley's distinct organic and full-bodied timbre animates songs such as "Any Time, Any Day, Anywhere" and "(I Don't Stand) A Ghost of a Chance (With You)" with an intangible sense of a forlorn soul. Accompanying ...
| | Waterson Carthy Dark Light CD (2002) (Import) United Kingdom
Assembler songs
$14.55
| | Charlie Parker Burnin' Bird CD (2002) (Import) Japan
Assembler album
$13.49
| | Marcos Ariel Diplomatie CD (2004) Import
Assembler CD music
$13.95
| | 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best Of Eric Clapton CD (2004) Remastered
Assembler music CDs
$7.75
This 20TH CENTURY MASTERS collection culls Eric Clapton's biggest hits from three extremely successful 1970s solo releases--his self-titled debut, 461 OCEAN BOULEVARD, and SLOWHAND. The breezy melancholy of "Promises," from '78s BACKLESS, and two cuts from LAYLA AND OTHER ASSORTED LOVE SONGS (recorded with Clapton's short-lived group Derek ...
| | Fredrick Ford Dirty Little Secret CD (2005)
Assembler songs
$12.55
I was born just outside of Philadelphia and moved around the country quite a bit growing-up. Not an army brat--I just had the kind of parents that were always looking to further their careers so that we all could have a better life. Growing-up as a latch-key kid, I learned early-on how to be creative with my time. My best friend and I would sometimes act-out and do things like pick flowers from neighbors' backyards and then go door-to-door, selling them back to those neighbors as freshly cut arrangements. I think it was during this time that I began to see the fun in breaking all the rules once in a while.High school brought the typical problems of puberty. I mostly avoided social situations (outside of my 3 closest friends) and delved into the world of theatre. I'd found my calling, and I spent nearly every waking moment of my high school years taking acting, singing and dance classes...as well as working part-time jobs to pay for them! I ended-up being chosen as a scholarship dancer at Clark Dance Center in NYC, having to lie about my age to be old enough to qualify. A life in entertainment was definitely ahead of me. After college, I toiled away in the corporate world and lived paycheck to paycheck. Paying-off college loans and not knowing how I would ever find a way to pursue my singing career became my two big concerns, and for years I struggled. Until, by chance, I began go-go dancing at clubs in NYC. My talents as a professional dancer helped land me my first booking, and for ...
| | Grant Green Green,Grant Vol. 2-For The Funk Of It-Original Jam Master GG CD (2006) (Import)
Assembler album
$15.75
|
|
|
33079 
buttons below to play song samples
Adobe Flash
Email a Friend
